100 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF OXTARIO. 



The British West Indies. 



Injurious insects iu the British West Indies have only reoently receiv^eJ official or 

 semiofficial attention, with the single exception that in the year 1801 a special com- 

 mission composed of members of the general assembly of the Bihamis was appointed to 

 investigate the damage don^ to the cotton crop by the red bug (D/jsclerca^, probably 

 suti(7-ellus) And the chenille (Aletia iVf/Uaa). Within the past two or three years, how- 

 ever, several of the islands have taken up the subject, with or without governmental 

 support, and there is now a rapidly increasing spirit of investigation. 



Jamaica. In the appointment of Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell, a well-known entomo- 

 logist, to the oilice of curator of the Institute of Jamaica, at Kingston, it was sptcially 

 desired that the appointee should conduct investigations in economic entomology and 

 answer all correspondence in this direction which might come in from planters. Upon 

 taking charge of his new office, in June, 1891, Mr. Cockerell was immediately struck by 

 the extraordinary abundance of scale insects in Jamaica, and their iraportaace as enemies^ 

 to many cultivated plants. With his accustomed energy he at once undertook the study 

 of these insects, and has since published many papers about them, which have bien con- 

 tributions to knowledge. He started an interesting series of stylographic notes, mainly 

 about injurious insects, disseminated much information on this subject among the planter.'', 

 and fostertd an interest in the study which it is to be hoped will not die out. He was 

 succeeded in office in June,. 1893, by Mr. C. H. Tyler Townsend, formerly an assistant in 

 the Division of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and entomologist to the 

 State Agricultural Experiment Station of New Mexico, who, during the short time of hi& 

 residence ia Jamaica, followed in the lines laid down by Mr. Cockerell, and published a 

 number of very interesting notes, both in the journal of the Institute and in the stylo- 

 graphic series of notes, which he continued. Mr. Townsend resigned in May of the pra- 

 Eent year, and we have not heard that his successor has been appointed. 



Leeward Islands. Although no officially designated entomologist is employed by 

 the Leeward Islands, Mr. C. A. Barber, superintendent of agricultural for these islands, 

 is a well-informed man, a trained botanist, and fully alive to the importance of entomo- 

 logical work. He has conducted some important investigations on the sugarcane shot- 

 borer and other sugar-cane insects, which have been published in the Loeward Islands 

 Gazette. 



Trinidad, No official recognition of economic entomology has yet been reached in 

 this island, but a very active organization, knov/n as the Trinidad Field Naturalists^ 

 Club, has been established, which is well worth mention in this connection, since its pre- 

 sident, Mr. H. Caracciolo, and its secretary, Mr. F. W. Urich, have interested themselves 

 especially in the subject of economic entomology and are laboring to intere,st the govern- 

 ment. His Excellency the Governor occasionally attends the meetings of the club, and 

 by the institution of prizes for essays and by similar means, a widespread interest in 

 economic entomology is being aroused. The appointment of an official entomologist is 

 proV)ably a matter of only a short time. IJie Journal of the Field Naturalists' Club is 

 an interesting periodical, full of eiitomoiogioal information, and is now ixi its second 

 volume. 



New Zealand. 



New Zealanders have for .some time been fully alive to the importance of the study 

 of econouiic entomology. They have passed laws concerning the destruction of the codling 

 moth and have made an effort to establish quarantine regulations againgt the introduction 

 of infested substances from abroad. No governmental entomologist has been appointed, 

 although the Departm.ent of Forestry and Agriculture published, in 1887, a monograph 

 of the Coccida3, by Mr. W. M. Maskell, registrar of the University of New Zealand, the 

 title page of which reads : " An Account of the Insects Noxious to Agriculture and 

 Plants in New Zealand." A second part of this account was promised in an introductory 

 note, but has not appeared. Mr. Maskell has also written upon injurious insects in some 

 of the New Zealand newspapers. Much credit is due to a corresponding member of this 

 society, Mr. 11. Allan Wight, of Auckland, for the public-spirited interest which he has 



