274 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 6 



THE IMPERIAL BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY 



By C. Gordon Hewitt, D. Sc, Dominion Entomologid, Ottawa, Canada. 



As the question of international effort and cooperation in the matter 

 of controlling and preventing the spread of insects which in various 

 ways affect human activity is occupying the attention not only of 

 entomologists, sanitarians and workers directly occupied in studying 

 these many-sided problems, but also of statesmen and administrators, 

 the formation in connection with the British Imperial service of an 

 Imperial Bureau of Entomology at the beginning of the present year 

 will undoubtedly interest all concerned in these problems by whom 

 the progress and work will be watched. 



This organization is not a sudden development, but a gradual out- 

 growth of efforts along similar lines which began in the spring of 1909. 

 In March of that year a meeting was called by the Secretary of State 

 for the Colonies at the Colonial Office in London, in which the present 

 writer had the honor to take part, to discuss the formation of an Ento- 

 mological Research Committee for the purpose of furthering entomo- 

 logical research in the British possessions in tropical and sub-tropical 

 Africa. The chief insects which it was considered desirable to study 

 were those associated with the transmission of disease. In 1909 an 

 Entomological Research Committee of the Colonial Office was appointed 

 by Lord Crewe, then Secretary of State for the Colonies; it consisted 

 of the chief experts in entomology and tropical medicine in Great 

 Britain and Ireland, with Lord Cromer as chairman. Its work fell 

 under three divisions, namely, the carrying on of investigations and 

 entomological surveys in tropical Africa, for the purpose of which 

 two traveling entomologists were employed; the determination of 

 entomological material and the publication of the work so accomplished, 

 for which purpose the Bulletin of Entomological Research, a quarterly 

 journal, was started. Through the generosity of Mr. Andrew Carnegie 

 the committee was able also to undertake the training of entomologists 

 for service in the Dominions and Colonies. 



On account of the valuable service which was being rendered by the 

 committee to the African crown-colonies and protectorates, suggestions 

 were made for the enlargement of the scope of the work of the com- 

 mittee. Accordingly, in June' 1911, advantage was taken of the 

 presence in England of the Prime Ministers of the self-governing 

 Dominions and a conference was called by the Secretary of State for 

 the Colonies to consider the desirability of further extending the 

 work already begun by securing the cooperation and financial support 

 of the self-governing Dominions and Colonies. By this means mutual 



