Letter of submittal. 



IjUfiiiis Aire-i. F;brii:u'\ 



Sir:- 



I lerewith I beg to present a full but much condensed report 

 covering my stifdies of the ])estructive Locust of the Argentine 

 Republic and surrounding regions of South America. 



While the results that have been obtained are not what I 

 should have desired, nor what were expected, they are very 

 satisfactory indeed when we take into consideration the mag- 

 nitude of the undertaking, the vastness ot the country to be 

 explored, the variety of topics to be considered, and the difñ- 

 cult}^ of obtaining reliable data on all of these varied subjects. 

 It has been especially difficult to secure such facts from the 

 outlying regions in the north and northwest where little or no 

 population exists, but where such information would prove 

 of the utmost importance in the settlement of certain points in 

 our insect's life-history, — points that must be understood 

 before anything in the way of reliable predictions concerning 

 the possibility of invasion or non-invasion by " mangas " of 

 the insect can be made. 



Throughout the time- that I have been in the country the 

 various members of the " Commission " have al\va3's been ver}' 

 willing to aid me in every way they could, l^his they did at 

 times even to the neglect of individual interests. Vhe Sub- 

 commission also was untiring in its efforts to obtain data 

 which might be used in the settlement of various points relative 

 to the life-history and habits of the insect in dilferent parts of 

 the Republic and surrounding portions of Urugua}', Firazil, 

 Paraguay and Bolivia. Without these latter but litth" could 

 liave been accomplished. 



I am sure that each member of the Commission \\U\ join per- 

 sonally in thanking the numerous correspondents throughout 

 the country for their prompt replies to letters, and even circu- 

 lars of inquiiy, which it was found necessary to trouble them 

 with from timé to time. The various railwa\' companies, too, 

 deserve more than ordinarv thanks for the willingness the\- 



