304 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 10 



in field charge of this work, effective February 1. An inspection service will be or- 

 ganized, consisting of at least four persons, two of whom wiU be assigned at once to 

 border control work, and the other two to act in conjunction with Mr. Barber in the 

 interior service and control. The continued disturbed condition in Mexico has frus- 

 trated the attempt to make a direct survey of the infested region in Mexico, and the 

 negotiations for permission to make and safeguard such survey, conducted through 

 the Mexican Ambassador Designate and the State Department have so far been un- 

 successful. 



Mr. John F. Strauss, connected with the Bureau of Entomology since 1903, died 

 on Tuesday, January 2, 1917, at the Pottenger Sanatorium, Monrovia, Cal. After 

 leaving the pubhc schools, Mr. Strauss spent one year in the Kansas State Agricul- 

 tural CoUege, came East and entered the Virginia State Agricultural College, where 

 he completed a four years' course in Agriculture, receiving the degree of Bachelor of 

 Science. After graduation he took up the study of medicine, spending two years at 

 the University of Virginia, completing the courses in comparative anatomy, histology, 

 and bacteriology. He did not further pursue his medical studies, but returned to the 

 Virginia Polytechnic Institute in the fall of 1897, pursuing graduate work and re- 

 ceiving the degree of Master of Science. Subsequently Mr. Strauss was connected 

 with the Virginia Experiment Station and College as laboratory assistant and assist- 

 ant instructor. Upon entering the Bureau, Mr. Strauss was employed as an entomo- 

 logical draftsman in the branch of forest entomology, working under the direction of 

 Dr. A. D. Hopkms. During his period of service in that branch from 1903-1908, he 

 made many excellent illustrations of forest insects, among which are those illustrating 

 articles on "Insect Injuries to Forest Products" in the Yearbook for 1904, and "In- 

 sect Enemies of Forest Reproduction" in the Yearbook for 1905, and "Injuries to 

 Forest Trees by Flathead Borers" in the Yearbook for 1909. After a short assign- 

 ment as insect artist to the Bureau in general, during which time he prepared illus- 

 trations of cotton insects at the Dallas (Texas) laboratory, and illustrations of para- 

 sites of the gipsy and brown-tail moths at the Melrose Highlands (Mass.) laboratory, 

 he was transferred to the office of Deciduous Fruit Investigations, with which office 

 he was connected at the time of his death. Mr. Strauss accomplished a large amount 

 of work in the preparation of drawings of deciduous fruit and other insects, illustrating 

 most of the publications that have appeared from that branch since about 1910. Two 

 papers have been published by Mr. Strauss, namely, one on Clinocoris lectidarius 

 and the other on the grape leaf -folder, Desmia funeralis. He was a member of the 

 Entomological Society of Washington. Mr. Strauss possessed a high degree of ar- 

 tistic abiUty which, combined with his entomological training, made him unusually 

 successful in insect deUneation work. He was earnest and thorough, and possessed 

 a personahty which endeared him to all who came to know him. — Monthly Letter of 

 the Bureau of Entomology. 



Solenopsis Interferes with Rearing Experiments in Texas. Mr. D. C. Parman, 

 Bureau of Entomology, writes that he is having very serious trouble with Solenopsis- 

 This ant has been a serious obstacle in the way of the rearing experiments at Uvalde, 

 Texas, but according to his reports it is much worse this year than ever before. He 

 says that there is a large bed heavily infested and that tunnels have been traced as far 

 as 150 yards in some directions. I am wondering if any one in the Bureau has had 

 any experience in the control of this ant under such conditions and if so should like 

 to have their experience. 



F. C. BiSHOPP. 



Mailed April 17, 1917. 



