191Ji\ Animal Life of ]SroRTH Carolina 71 



We can never expect that the general public will become 

 really well informed on the subjects, but it is certainly in line 

 with our duty as specialists in the study of these problems that 

 we should aim to make this definite and exact information avail- 

 able not only to ourselves but to our co-workers and to such other 

 persons as may be sufficiently interested to study these subjects 

 as amateurs. 



As soon as a group of animals (or plants) is proven or 

 suspected to be of economic importance it becomes a fit subject 

 for study by our recognized institutions, and results of such 

 study usually find a ready means of publication in the bulletins 

 and reports of agricultural or educational institutions. But data 

 upon subjects the economic application of which is or seems to 

 be remote, cannot so easily find a place for publication, especially 

 if they deal with strictly state or local matters. Yet every stu- 

 dent knows how difficult it is to draw the line clearly between 

 what is, and what is not, of economic bearing. Even an incon- 

 spicuous form of life with apparently no economic relations, 

 may on occasion prove to be important, hence if our studies are 

 really to be broad we must include forms which for the present 

 appear to be of no account. Recent developments in the field of 

 Medical Entomology will make this clear. Only a very few 

 years ago the common House-fly was regarded merely as an 

 insect which annoyed us at times, but which was popularly be- 

 lieved to "keep the air pure" ; but now we know that its life is 

 associated with filth and is fraught with almost endless possibil- 

 ities in the spread of serious diseases of mankind. The Mosqui- 

 toes comprise another group of insects which we formerly re- 

 garded merely as annoying, but which we now know to be con- 

 cerned in the spread of both malaria and yellow fever, and much 

 of the sanitary work now being done in Cuba, Panama and other 

 tropical and sub-tropical localities is aimed at mosquito control. 

 A few years ago an exhaustive study of the mosquito fauna of a 

 state (North Carolina for instance) would have aroused skep- 

 ticism and ridicule so far as its economic aspects were con- 

 cerned, — now it appears highly desirable. Several states have 

 made more or less exhaustive studies of the subject, notably 



