ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



pare of the year 188S by Mr. Cotes, at the suggestion of the secretary to the government 

 of India, in the Revenue and Af^ricultural Department. Mr. Cotes was at that time 

 in charge of the entomological collections of the Indian Museum, and the reports were 

 published by the government, with the consent of the trustees of the Museum, as the first 

 two numbers of an oflicial series entitled Notes on Economic Entomology. Tne title of 

 this .serial was subsequently changed to Indian Museum no'es, when the trustees of the 

 Museum consented to charge themselves olhcially with the conduct of the investigation. 

 The work really commenced in March, 1S8S, when Mr. Cotes was deputed to attend an 

 agricultural conference at Delhi, where the part to V)e taken in the scheme by the various- 

 provincial governments was discussed. As a result of this conference the departments 

 of land records and a<:;iiculture, attached to the various provincial governments, under- 

 took to arrange for the submittal of reports and specimens from officials concerned with 

 agriculture in all parts of India. The task of collating the results, and also of carrying 

 on such investigiiticns as could be conducted at headquarters, was intrusted to Mr. Cotes, 

 aided by a statl" of six otiice assistants, whom he was permitted to select. Circular letters 

 were sent out to all parts of the country, and large numbers of reports and specimens 

 soon began to come in. The results were published from time to time and freely circu- 

 lated among all interested. One of the greatest of the early difficulties was the identifi- 

 cation of specie.'', but this was accomplished mainly through correspondence with specialists 

 in different parts of the world. The I'esults of six years of work are, in brief : The 

 ascertaining of the identity of several hundred of the more important injurious species 

 which affect crops in India. The recording of the nature of the damage occasioned by 

 them, and the tracing out of the main facts iu the life histories in a large number of 

 cases. Information has been contimiously supplied to officials and planters as to the 

 nature of their insect pests and the most promising methods of treatment. Many experi- 

 ments have been tried with a view to the adaptation of insecticides in use in other parts 

 of the world to the requirements of special crops under cultivation in India. Fourteen 

 numbers of the Indian Musaum Notes, comprised in three volumes, have been published, 

 and a number of special reports have also been sent out ; one on tlie locust of northwest 

 India, and one entitled Handbook of the Silk Insects of India. Two preliminary lesson 

 sheets for use in native schools have also been prepared by the office. A thorough investi- 

 gation of the insects affecting the tea plant is now in progress. The funds appropriated 

 for the support of entomological investigation have varied from year to year ; the only 

 special grant for the purpose is one of 5,000 rupees per- annum from the government of 

 India. 'J hii? is paid to the account of the Indian Museum, and forms a part of a general 

 fund wiiich is di.stril>uted at the discretion of the trustees, partly for the maintenance of 

 the institution and partly for the support of the work carried on in various departments, 

 one of which includes economic entomology. The work was at first looked upon m many 

 quarters as a matter of comparative insignificance, but Mr. Cutes informs n)e that its 

 importance is now very generally recognized, and that strong representations aie being 

 made in influential quarters, urging the desirability of extending the scope of the work,, 

 and making it, like other branches of research, an integral portion of the Agricultural 

 Department of the government. The work which has so far been done by Mr. Cotes- 

 and his assistants has been admirable, and we know of no more interesting publication, 

 upon entomology than the Indian Museum Notes. 



South Africa. 



The Agricultural Journal, the official organ of the D,}partment of Agriculture of 

 Cape Colony, has been paying a great deal of attention to economic entomology during: 

 the last four or five years. Ihe so-called Australian bug {Iceri/a purchasi), the gvai^G- 

 vine Phyllo.vera, and the injurious locusts seemed to have roused the colonists to the 

 necessity for more or less investigation, and the Agricultural Department has taken hold 

 of the matter with some little energy. No distinctively official entomologist, iiowever, 

 was ever appointed. Privately Mr. 8. D. Bairstow and one or two other colonists havt^ 

 made certain investigations, and their correspondence with Miss Ormerod, honorary consult- 

 ing entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society of Great Britain, resulted in the pub- 

 lication of MibS Ormerod's little book, entitled Notes and Descriptions of a Few Injurious- 

 7 (KN.) 



