97 



entomologists can help in solving health prdblems, and quoted Professor 

 Lefroy as saying that Asiatic cholera and typhus are now present in 

 those localities in France to which many American soldiers will be 

 sent, and unless expert entomologists are in the field the experience 

 that the English had in the first year of their campaign will be re- 

 peated. Mr. A. F. Burgess remarked upon the difficulty of changing 

 a system that already exists, but suggested that the American Asso- 

 ciation should take action and point out the dangers ahead, placing 

 its members at the service of the Government. Mr. Herbert Osborn 

 deplored the difficulties encountered by entomologists desiring to give 

 the greatest service possible in the national emergency, and hoped 

 that the time will soon come when men will be assigned where they 

 are best fitted to serve. Mr. S. J. Hunter gave his experience that 

 men will not join as entomologists unless they can be made to feel 

 in some official way that it is a real service they are called upon to 

 do for their country, and he suggested that this point of view required 

 consideration. Mr. T. J. Headlee called attention to the general 

 impression that the economic entomologists' information is of a type 

 that cannot be put to practical use, and considered that until this 

 impression is removed the entomologist will not have a chance to do 

 his professional work in the United States Army. He suggested that 

 the Association should record a resolution in which the ability of the 

 economic entomologist to perform a real service in connection with 

 the military estabhshment should be set forth. Mr. W. C. O'Kane 

 suggested that if the matter were rightly presented to the War Depart- 

 ment, not as a question of exemption or of preferred classification but 

 as a question of maximum service, something might be effected. 

 Mr. R. A. Cooley remarked that entomologists are needed in the Army 

 for the preservation of food stores as well as in medical or preventive 

 work. He regretted the obstruction that is placed in the way of 

 economic entomologists from official quarters, and suggested that 

 there should be a frank and full conference between representatives 

 of the Association and certain government officials. Mr. W. H. 

 Goodwin considered that the importance placed by English entomo- 

 logists upon the preservation of food products is a vital point. Most 

 people have no conception of the quantity rendered unfit for food 

 by insect infestation. Most of the material voided by such insects 

 is in the form of ureates of ammonia and these, when taken into 

 the human digestive system, become soluble and cause an excess of 

 ureates that may act as toxic poisons. Mr. C. L. Metcalf expressed 

 the hope that the War Department would utilise the entomological 

 knowledge of those entering the service through ordinary channels, 

 whether they are officially recognised as sanitary entomologists or not. 

 It was decided that a committee of three members of the Association 

 be appointed by the President to bring any action that the Association 

 might take to the attention of the War Department. 



Simpson (J. J.). Bionomics of Tsetse and other Parasitological Notes 

 in the Gold Coast. — Bull. Entom. Research, London, viii, no. 3-4, 

 February 1918, pp. 193-214. 



The most important factors influencing the distribution and preva- 

 lence of tsetse-flies are the type of vegetation, the relation to game 



