4 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 10 



The Pacific Slope Branch which came into existence through the action taken at the 

 last annual meeting held its annual meeting August 9-10, 19,16, at San Diego, Cali- 

 fornia, in connection with the meetings of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. The report of the sessions was published 

 in the October number of the Journal and speaks for itself as to the success of the 

 branch and as to the wisdom of its establishment. Mr. E. O. Essig, the secretary, 

 has been very successful in handling the new branch and most pleasant relations exist 

 between it and this Association. 



The finances of the Association are in such a condition that the publication of the 

 Index of American Economic Entomology can be undertaken if a reasonable number 

 of advance subscriptions can be secured. 



The Journal of Economic Entomology 



The Journal has had a satisfactory year although the financial balance is some- 

 what less than last year. The complete proceedings of the Columbus meeting were 

 published in the February issue, but it was impossible to mail this number until 

 March 4. This number contained 252 pages in addition to the list of officers, meetings 

 and members which is published each year. 



In spite of this fact, the other numbers during the year were not materially reduced 

 in size; 580 pages were published in 1916 against 566 for the previous year. The 

 number of illustrations appearing in the Journal is increasing rapidly each year, 

 which means additional cost both for their preparation and printing. Members 

 are urged to submit only such illustrations as are vital to the proper understanding 

 of the papers which they wish published. The Journal management will sell to 

 authors at cost the cuts prepared for illustrating their papers and it is hoped that 

 many of these can be disposed of in this way, as it will supply more funds for improv- 

 ing the publication. 



The cost of issuing the Journal has increased during the past year. A contract 

 has been signed for 1917 at a further advance. The price of paper and nearly every- 

 thing that has to do with the pubhcation has increased in price, and the expense next 

 year will be approximately one-third greater than heretofore. The advertising in 

 the Journal has decreased slightly as the manager has not felt warranted in pushing 

 an aggressive campaign to sell space. Most of our old advertisers have remained 

 without being persistently sohcited, which speaks well for the publication as an 

 advertising medium. 



The report last year showed that the net increase in the subscription list was 44, 

 and although many foreign subscriptions were cancelled there was a net gain of three 

 in that class of subscribers. As anticipated the record of the past year has been 

 less favorable and the future does not look encouraging. Total subscriptions for 

 1916 show 11 less than the previous year. There was an increase in the United States 

 but a loss of 21 foreign subscribers was responsible for the unfavorable showing. 

 In all probability, we will have less foreign business during the coming year. This 

 means one of three things: an increase in price of the publication, which is now selling 

 much lower than others of the same grade and size; the publication of less matter; 

 or more interest among the members in securing additional subscribers. It should 

 be an easy matter to solve the problem in the latter way. During the past year, 

 several members have done good work in this respect. A little more energy in secur- 

 ing one more subscription to the Journal will solve the problem. 



