April, '11] GOSSARD: reaching the public 257 



ings that are wired and supplied with electricity and where exception- 

 ally large audiences are expected, but this machine is altogether too 

 heavy for general use. We have several hundred lantern slides, three 

 or four hundred having been chosen from the Slingerland list and we 

 have made about as many of our own. We have just as many as 

 possible of these in natural colors and arrange them so as to give a 

 connected and logical lecture. The first slide is generally the one 

 which shows the division of insects into two groups, those with suck- 

 ing and those with biting mouth-parts, then a series illustrating com- 

 plete and incomplete metamorphosis is shown, then slides illustrating 

 fecundit}', parasitism, predaceous forms, the work of bacterial and 

 entomophilus diseases, the functions of birds and insectivorous ani- 

 mals, mimicry, etc. After this introductory matter, special considera- 

 tion is given to such insects as are apt to be of most local interest or 

 which illustrate the day lectures. Some of the finest, most beautiful, 

 and surprising slides are always reserved for the close of the lecture. 

 Topic 16 has been added to give a wider range of choice and to accom- 

 modate audiences which in preceding seasons have heard No. 15. 

 Mr. Slingerland has prepared many of the bird slides for us and we 

 have made a good manj' ourselves. Besides birds, the rabbit, the 

 rat, the skunk, the mole, the shrew, the woodchuck and the toad are 

 considered. The natural history of these is discussed in more or less 

 detail and suggestions for control or propagation are furnished. 

 Many insect slides are worked into this lecture to illustrate the food 

 habits of birds. Topic No. 17 is the article published in No. 5, Vol. 2, 

 Journal of Economic Entomology. This is a somewhat heavy 

 lecture for the average audience and though generally well received, 

 I doubt if it leaves so lasting an impression as the stereopticon lec- 

 tures and I know it is not so popular. The evening lecture by Mr. 

 Goodwin on "Sprajdng Machinery" is very practical and is gener- 

 ously illustrated with a splendid set of slides of our own making, but 

 we have not yet had time to determine whether or not there will be 

 much call for it. The county schools of agriculture lasting from one to 

 two weeks each, also offer an opportunity for giving short courses in 

 entomology, and will, doubtless, supplant the farmers' institutes in 

 time. These are comparatively new developments in Ohio agri- 

 cultural education, and we have thus far had little opportunity to test 

 their possibihties for entomological instruction. The horticultural 

 and agricultural train offer some opportunities for scattering informa- 

 tion, but thus far, we have not tried to utilize this method of propa- 

 ganda. I believe Mr. Shaw of our state department of Agriculture 

 and the Department of Agricultural Extention at our state university 

 have used it wdth considerable success. 



