December, '17] editorial 565 



comprehended under economic entomolog>^ There was a similar in- 

 vasion of New England by a pest bringing death and destruction to 

 much of the best timber, and here again a study of the broader aspects 

 of the problem resulted in satisfactory control by methods not com- 

 monly associated with the term economic entomologist. 



Fundamentally, these are engineering problems. Entomological 

 Engineering, if you please, and we believe that the more general use 

 of some such term would assist materially in giving this branch of 

 natural science the standing it richly deserves. Entomological Engi- 

 neer would be no misnomer, since Webster defines engineering as: 

 "The science and art of utilizing the forces and materials of nature." 

 We have forest engineers, why not entomological engineers? These 

 larger phases of natural history are becoming more insistent in their 

 demand for solution and they can be handled only as adequate provi- 

 sion is made. The stake is larger and the issues more vital under the 

 compelling necessity of war. Are we to meet the situation? Can we 

 rise to our opportunities and demonstrate as never before the possi- 

 bilities of knowledge directed to the control of injurious and dangerous 

 insects? 



The establishment of an absolute quarantine against the importation 

 of all plants, more especially nursery stock, appears like an easy and 

 effective method of preventing the further introduction of injurious 

 insects and plant diseases. The experiences of this country would 

 certainly justify such action in sections of the world where the native 

 fauna and flora had been disturbed to only a very slight extent by 

 the introduction of species with their enemies and diseases. This 

 does not necessarily follow in the case of a country in close touch 

 with other parts of the world and which has been importing large 

 amounts of stock annually for a series of years. We already have 

 many of the more important enemies of standard fruits, like the apple, 

 and the adoption of such drastic measures should be preceded by a 

 careful weighing of the benefits and losses consequent upon such 

 action. It might be possible to exempt cosmopolitan plants, especially 

 those in regions where they have been grown and shipped for yea,rs, 

 and thus secure maximum benefit and minimum interference with 

 commerce. It is the novelties, the less widely distributed plants, which 

 are potentially the more dangerous, and these might well be brought 

 in under governmental agencies charged with the employment of 

 every reasonable precaution to prevent the introduction of dangerous 

 insects and plant diseases. It may not be easy to distinguish between 

 the two classes of plants and yet an absolute quarantine would be 

 farther than many Americans would care to go. 



