April, '08] JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 165 



CHARLES ABBOTT DAVIS 



Mr. Charles Abbott Davis, curator of the Roger Williams Park 

 museum at Providence, R. I., died at the Rhode Island hospital Jan- 

 uary 28, 1908, from cerebro spinal meningitis. 



He was a devoted student of natural history and was particularly 

 interested in entomology and shells. He was a member of many so- 

 cieties, among which were the Entomological Society of America, Ag- 

 gassiz Association and the Rhode Island Field Naturalists' Society, 

 having organized the latter. 



A. F. B. 



Revie-ws 



Studies of Parasites of the Cotton Boll Weevil, by W. Dwight 

 Pierce, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology, 

 Bulletin 73. 

 Theoretically at least, the best method of controlling an injurious insect is 

 by encouraging its natural enendies. All economic entomologists recognize 

 the value of parasites and predaceous forms as checks upon the multiplication 

 of insect pests, and many have made more or less general recommendations 

 with a view of oI)taining the greatest possible assistance from these agencies. 

 Careful studies have been made of the parasites of several of our more impor- 

 tant insect enemies such, for example, as the exhaustive study by Dr. How- 

 ard, of the parasites of the white marked tussock moth, and a careful inves- 

 tigation by Fiske, of the parasites of the common tent caterpillar. The para- 

 sites of the Coccidae, thanks again to the work of Dr. Howard, are relatively 

 well known, and enemies of this group have been successfully introduced into 

 localities and very satisfactorily controlled dangerous outbreaks of their 

 hosts. The bulletin under consideration is specially noteworthy, in that it 

 gives a large amount of accurate data relating to the parasites of an entire 

 group in a faunal area. The investigator has ascertained the sources from 

 whence come the parasites attacking the boll weevil. A study of the biology 

 of the native host forms has shown the possibility of taking advantage of 

 natural conditions within certain limitations so as to force insects, normally 

 subsisting on species of small or no economic importance, to attack one of 

 our most dangerous pests. Such methods can be employed to advantage only 

 after the factors controlling the existence of these forms are thoroughly 

 understood. These studies are a striking illustration of the importance of 

 thorough investigations of an entire group. The author is to be congratu- 

 lated upon having produced a very valuable and suggestive contribution to 

 economic entomology. B. P. F. 



Report of the Entomological Department of the New Jersey Agri- 

 cultural College Experiment Station for 1907, by John B. 

 Smith, pages 389-560. 

 This publication appears in its usual form, and like its predecessors con- 

 tains numerous valuable observations upon the more injurious species of the 



