14 



idea that extended reports on entomology, while the}' contain a great 

 deal of very vaKial)lc and useful matter, do not appeal to the public 

 mind, and he is therefore inclined to think that wherever conditions 

 will admit our publications should l)o of a special rather than of a 

 g'eneral character. The annual report on entomology, wherever it is 

 possible to have one, is a very convenient method of publishing 

 observations and other records which could not be properl}" included 

 in a bulletin, and such reports should have a limited circulation. The}^ 

 are more for the economic entomologist, the one who wishes to go 

 back to original sources of information, and do not appeal to the 

 general public. 



There are, however, special reports on well-defined economic groups, 

 which are of greatest value to the general public and of utmost utility 

 to the nation. I refer in particular to such works as Hubbard's Orange 

 Insects, Comstock's Cotton Insects, the reports of the United States 

 Entomological Commission on Kocky Mountain Locusts, and Dr. Pack- 

 ard's report on Insects Injurious to Forest and Shade Trees, and to the 

 monographic report on the Gipsy Moth, b}^ Messrs. Forbush and Fer- 

 nald. These are the highest form of report, and, when properl}^ pre- 

 pared, constitute an exceedingl}' valuable record concerning species of 

 great economic importance. Such works as these appeal not only to 

 the practical or economic entomologist and the s^^stematic worker, 

 but also to every man interested in the crops or products affected by 

 the insects treated. Such work as this adds very materially to the 

 prestige of economic entomology in America, and will continu(> to do 

 so just as long as the parties engaged in such efforts are well qualified 

 and possess the high ideals governing those who have gone before. 



BULLETINS. 



Next to newspaper articles, bulletins appear best to reach the popu- 

 lar mind. The first important bulletin on economic entomology, so 

 far as known to the speaker, is No. 1 by the United States Entomologi- 

 cal Conmiission, which was issued in 1877, and which was followed by 

 six others, five being devoted to popular accounts of specially injuri- 

 ous insects or groups of insects, and the other, No. 6, being a detailed 

 index and supplement to the classic Missouri reports previously men- 

 tioned. This latter, therefore, in reality helped to render more acces- 

 sible a mass of earlier published o])servations. This series of bulletins 

 was closely followed and overlapped by a series begun under the 

 authority of Dr. Riley, then chief of the Division of Entomology, 

 United States Department of Agriculture, and continued through 33 

 numbers. This earlier series has been followed by a second series, 

 which already includes 38 popular and }> technical bulletins. 



About 400 entomological bulletins have been issued in America by 

 various State experiment stations and other public officials charged 



