540 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.84 



To return to our own country : After the election of S. H. Scudder 

 to the National Academy of Sciences in 1877, no entomologist gained 

 this honor in more than 30 years, and when finally another one was 

 elected he was not a worker in a])plied entomology although connected 

 with the Bussey Institution of Harvard which was estahlished as an 

 agricultural research institution. I refer to Dr. W. M. Wheeler. The 

 first strictly economic entomologist to be elected was the writer, in 

 1916' and I have a suspicion that, if it had been thoroughly under- 

 stood by the members of the Academy that he was so pronouncedly 

 utilitarian in his work and his views, he might have failed. It is quite 

 possible that his efforts in the organization of science, as long evi- 

 denced by his permanent-secretaryship of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science had more influence in bringing about 

 the election than anything he had done in the field of agricultural or 

 medical entomology. Two years later Prof. S. A. Forbes was elected 

 to the Academy, and here again I fear that possibly he was elected in 

 spite of his work in economic entomology rather than because of it. 

 Two years later again, the writer was made President of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, the second entomologist 

 to whom this honor had come in the 70-odd years of the history of 

 the organization. However, in spite of doubts as to real reasons, it 

 may be concluded safely that there has been a great change and that 

 an economic entomologist can hold up his head among the workers 

 in so-called ])ure science. 



As a matter of fact, the results achieved by the workers in pure 

 science in many fields are sure to be utilized sooner or later in the 

 warfare against injurious insects. 



The final paragraph of an f]o(|ucnt address made by E. Koubaud 

 of the Pasteur Institute in concluding his term as I'resident of the 

 luitomological Society of France (1927) contains the following 

 (translated) : 



In concluding, I have another wish to express, namely that of seeing our 

 Society show its activity more and more to the outside world, to impress the 

 world especially by the services it renders. It no longer suffices that we should 

 work in the serene peace of our laboratories ; we must open a window on the 

 side of life. The role of insects in liuman existence appears greater day by day. 

 In an epoch like ours, essentially practical and utilitarian, we can no longer 

 neglect this point of view. Will it not be possible to establish here a sort of 

 information office about useful or injurious insects and the ways of destroying 



' The first economic entomologist to be made an honorary member of the 

 Entomological Society of France was the writer (1905) and he was also the 

 first man of this class to be made honorary fellow of the Entomological Society 

 of London (1916). 



