96 



progresses, the medical and sanitary staffs will be so overwhelmed 

 with the care and protection of the seriously stricken that matters of 

 apparently minor importance, such as the control of insect pests, must 

 of necessity be neglected to some extent. This is where the entomo- 

 logist should step in and relieve the physician and sanitarian by 

 discharging a duty for which he is particularly qualified. 



Insect control under field and camp conditions presents many 

 problems that cannot be foreseen, and these can be handled ade- 

 quately only by those who have had extensive experience with 

 insects. In the present circumstances, where thousands of lives may 

 be imperilled, the best is none too good, and, if there be failure, the 

 employment of experts would presuppose that every reasonable pre- 

 caution had been adopted. It is suggested that a competent entomo- 

 logist should be attached to every large military unit and accorded 

 a rank that will inspire respect for his recommendations, thus ensuring 

 the quick solution of many dijfficult problems without encroaching 

 upon the services of the medical men. The main lines of effort of 

 such entomologists would include protection against d sease-carriers, 

 which involves the elimination of opportunities for insects to become 

 infected, and the reduction of their breeding to a minimum. 



The protection of food should receive considerable attention, since 

 by the adoption of comparatively simple precautions in handling and 

 storage it would be possible to avoid waste and serious loss. Protec- 

 tion should also be extended to domestic animals. A survey would 

 disclose the breeding places of mosquitos, horse-flies, etc. The loca- 

 tion of the camps and the disposition of camp refuse and manure 

 must be determined largely by local conditions, and apparently 

 unimportant modifications may have a material effect upon the 

 abundance of insects and the annoyance and danger resulting there- 

 from. 



The conditions that are Likely to prevail after the War must also 

 be borne in mind. Epidemics of disease, widespread and frequently 

 deadly, have been the inevitable sequence of previous wars, especially 

 in those countries to which combatants returned. The most thorough 

 precautions are necessary if such a catastrophe, affecting, as it would 

 do, almost the whole world, is to be avoided, and certain safeguards 

 are not possible unless there is an intimate and general knowledge of 

 the habits of insects serving as carriers. The paper concludes with 

 extracts from Dr. Friedrich Prinzing's " Epidemics Resulting from 

 Wars." 



In the course of the discussion following the reading of this paper, 

 Mr. J. L. King referred to the apparent impossibility of entering the 

 entomological service in connection with the War. Mr. E. P. Felt 

 remarked in reply that any man who had had any experience whatever 

 with insect work should be more competent to deal with entomological 

 problems than the man who has had no such experience, and pointed 

 out that work of the nature required must be taken up before the 

 pressing need for it arises, or disaster may result. Life is too valuable 

 and the stake too large to warrant delay. Mr. E. D. Ball summarised 

 the chief function of the entomologist as appraising the situation in 

 the field and devising remedies to meet each contingency that arises. 

 Mr. G. A. Dean expressed surprise that so few medical men, bacterio- 

 logists and sanitary engineers appreciate or even recognise that 



