February, '19] BUSINESS PROCEEDINGS 9 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON WAR SERVICE BY ENTOMOLOGISTS 



Your Special Committee appointed January 2, 1918, to bring to the attention of the 

 federal authorities resolutions of the Association tendering to the War Department 

 the technical services of entomologists in connection -with camp sanitation, especially 

 in the prevention of insect-borne diseases, begs to report that we met first in Wash- 

 ington, January 9-12, coming into conference with officers of the War Department 

 most immediately responsible for the control of camp sanitation, submitting to the 

 Department through them the resolutions passed by you at your Pittsburgh meeting, 

 and taking such further steps towards realizing the purpose of these resolutions as 

 seemed possible at the time; that we met again in Washington, April 5, to complete 

 our arrangements with the Department; and that our business since that time has 

 been conducted by correspondence only. 



It appeared to us in the beginning that entomologists might be of important service 

 to the armies of the United States in time of war by accepting such positions as might 

 be offered them in the U. S. Sanitary Corps as experts in the study and control of 

 insect pests, especially those which are carriers of contagious disease to our troops in 

 camp and field; bj' acting as advisers to the sanitary officers of camps and canton- 

 ments in their respective territories; and by engaging, as their other employments 

 might permit, in a careful investigation of sanitary problems in which infestation by 

 insects was an important factor. 



At our first meeting we had a conference with Doctor Howard and examined the 

 correspondence which he had already had with the Surgeon-General's office relative 

 to the appointment of entomologists to positions in the Sanitary Corps. The com- 

 mittee planned at the outset to cooperate with the U. S. Bureau of Entomolog>s 

 which, by reason of its location, affiliations, and opportunities for personal communi- 

 cation and conference, was in position to advise and negotiate and to make recom- 

 mendations, both general and specific, to the War Department. Indeed, the Bureau 

 had already done much to influence the policy of the Medical Department with 

 respect to the appointment of entomologists as sanitary officers. 



Although the responsible officers of the Medical Department were bj^ no means a 

 unit as to the need of entomologists in official relation to army sanitation, some of the 

 more important of them being, indeed, evidently of the opinion that the medical offi- 

 cers of the Sanitary Corps were, or would presently become, entirely competent to 

 handle insect problems in a practical way without expert aid from entomologists, 

 there were still enough whose minds were open to conviction to give the Bureau of 

 Entomology a fair opportunity to bring fact and argument to bear, with the result 

 that E. H. Gib.son, R. Gies, W. B. Hernis, A. H. Jennings, and D. L. Van Dine were 

 commissioned as captains in the Sanitary Corps, L. H. Dunn, and W. H. White as 

 lieutenants in that corps, and G. F. White as a captain in the Medical Corps. Several 

 entomologists were taken into the army and given non-commissioned positions, six of 

 them as sergeants and one as a corporal. In the nav>' John W. Bailey was sent to the 

 Navy Medical School and recommended for a commi.ssion, but was later transferred 

 to the army and would have received a commi.ssion within a few days except for the 

 signing of the armistice; and O. H. Basseches, who was in the Officers' Training 

 School, would have received a commission in the Veterinary Corps except for the 

 same reason. Several entomologists who applied for service in the Medical Corps 

 were sent to the Yale Army Medical School, and were being trained for jwssible com- 

 missions in the Medical Corps when hostilities were terminated. One member of 

 the Marine Corps, C. D. Duncan, was promoted to pharmacist's mate and had charge 

 of all the entomological sanitation at Quantico; and five privates wore assigned to 

 entomological .sanitary work in their camps. 



