October, "16] SMITH: DEFINING HOST RELATIONSHIPS 477 



For the membership committee 



One year, A. L. Melander, Pullman, Wash. 

 Two j-ears, E. G. Titus, Logan, Utah. 

 Three years, H. J. Quayle, Riverside, Cal. 



(Signed) E. G. Titus, 



H. S. Smith. 



This report was duly accepted by the members and the officers as 

 nominated were declared elected. 



Chairman H. J. Quayle: Is there any other business to come be- 

 fore the house at this time? 



Dr. E. G. Titus: I wish to offer the following resolution: 



Resolved, That we appreciate the use of the high school as a meeting 

 place and express our sincere thanks to the City Board of Education 

 for the use of the same. 



This resolution w.as duly adopted by the house. 



Chairman H. J. Quayle: We shall now take up the remainder of 

 the papers. The first one this morning is by Mr. H. S. Smith. 



AN ATTEMPT TO REDEFINE THE HOST RELATIONSHIPS 

 EXHIBITED BY ENTOMOPHAGOUS INSECTS^ 



By Harry Scott Smith, Superintendent California Stale Insectary, Sacramento, 



California 



In any field of endeavor it is desirable occasionally to review the past, 

 making such readjustments as may seem necessar}^ in order to provide 

 a more secure basis for future work. In zoology the taxonomist 

 accomplishes this by monographing, as necessity may demand, the 

 group in which he is interested. The monographer performs a valua- 

 ble service, since he not only standardizes that which has been done by 

 others befoi-e him, placing each known species in its proper phylogen- 

 etic position in the group, but he defines the species as well and, if his 

 results be worthj^, makes it unnecessary for future students to go back 

 of his monograph. In this way much valuable time is saved, and 

 many needless misunderstandings, through lack of proper definition, 

 are avoided. 



In biological work names are quite as necessary as in taxonomy, and 

 a careful definition of a biological phenomenon is fully as important 

 as a correct description of a genus. Just as descriptions of genera 

 must occasionally be altered as new species are made known, just so 

 must the terms in biology occasionally be altered to keep pace with 

 the advance of knowledge in biology. Definitions in a growing science 



^ Occasional contributions from the California State Insectary, No. 2. 



