April, '08] JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 163 



go farther and ascertain their origin and demonstrate the possibility 

 of rearing parasites in native innoxious weevils and practically com- 

 pelling them to leave the original host and attack this destructive pest. 

 The present indications are that great advances will be made in the 

 near future. Most of this progress will result from i e amplication 

 or extension of previously recognized truths, rather than from the ex- 

 ploitation of entirely new methods. That there is great need of close 

 investigations of the ecology of injurious species is evidenced by recent 

 advances made possible thereby. We are strongly of the opinion that 

 investigations of entire groups are to occupy a prominent place in the 

 future, because this is one of the best ways of ascertaining every fact 

 which may be of service in controlling an injurious pest. The appli- 

 cation of methods found of value in other sciences will doubtless take 

 a prominent place in the economic entomology of the near future. We 

 much prefer to dwell in the New Testament atmosphere with its prom- 

 ises of the disclosure of truth to all, rather than to exist under Old 

 Testament conditions, with its revelations to the few. We are of the 

 opinion that the discoveries of truth are limited only by the oppor- 

 tunity and the visual (mental as well as optical) powers of the ob- 

 server. We admire Moses, and while leaders are valuable, is it not 

 true that our working entomologists constitute a small army of lead- 

 ers, all contributing to the attainment of a common goal — the push- 

 ing back of the borders of the unknown. 



Obituary 



WILLIS GRANT JOHNSON 



Prof. Willis G. Johnson, associate editor of the American Agricul- 

 turist, member of the board of control of the New York Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, and until the last few years prominent in entomo- 

 logical investigations, died at his home in New York City, March 11, 

 1908. He was stricken with slow spinal meningitis and passed away 

 while in the prime of life. 



Professor Johnson was bom July 4, 1866, at New Albany, Ohio, and 

 received his preparatory education in the Ohio State University from 

 1884-1887. He was graduated from Cornell University in 1892, with 

 the degree of A. B., receiving A. M. in 1894. He was a post-graduate 

 student in science and instructor at the Leland Stanford, Jr., Uni- 

 versity from 1892 to 1894. Then he was appointed instructor in the 

 University of Illinois, and was engaged in special agricultural in- 



