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December, "08] JOURNAL OP ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 343 



WORK OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY AGAINST 

 FOREST INSECTS 



By A. D. HoPKixs, Washington. D. C. 

 Historical 



Prior to 1902 the work in the United States on insects affecting for- 

 est trees consisted of local observations by state and government en- 

 tomologists in connection with general studies of insects in their re- 

 lation to agriculture, but no one, up to that time, had given special 

 attention to the investigation of the forest insects of the entire coun- 

 try and very little was then known of the principal insect enemies or 

 the character and extent of their depredations. 



Under the act establishing the Entomological Commission of the 

 Department of the Interior, and under subsequent acts to March 3, 

 1881, two publications were issued, one of 275 pages on insects injuri- 

 ous to forests and shade trees, issued as Bulletin 7 of the Department 

 of the Interior in 1861; the other, an enlarged and extended edition 

 of the first, entitled "The Fifth Report of the Entomological Commis- 

 sion," containing 855 pages and issued by the Department of Agri- 

 culture in 1890 (under joint resolution. Congressional Record, July 7, 

 1882). These publications comprised a compilation of practically all 

 of the available literature on the subject up to the date of submittal, 

 in 1887, but included little of practical value on the control of the 

 insect enemies of the forest proper. 



In 1891 the investigation of forest insects was inaugurated as a 

 special entomological feature of the work of the West Virginia Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, and was continued until July 1, 1902. 

 In the meantime the Division (now Bureau) of Entomology employed 

 the entomologist of the West Virginia Station to conduct special in- 

 vestigations in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho in the 

 spring of 1899 ; in ]Maine in the spring of 1900 ; in New York in 1901 ; 

 and in the Black Hills of South Dakota in the fall of 1901 and spring 

 of 1902. Up to July 1, 1902, the West Virginia station had issued 49 

 publications of 855 pages, with 16 plates and 236 figures, and the 

 Division of Entomology 3 publications of 99 pages with 23 plates and 

 10 text figures, based on the results of original investigations of forest 

 insects. 



On July 1, 1902, the office of Forest Insect Investigations was estab- 

 lished under the general appropriation for entomological investiga- 

 tions, as one of the special branches of the work of the Division of 

 Entomolog}'. The objects, as set forth in the general project, were to 



