60 



economic entomologist must nse the best-known common name, and 

 tliat it would 1)6 no disadvantage for the scientific name of the insect 

 to appear in publication. 



Mr. Sanderson believed that the scientific name should be placed at 

 the end of the publication, and that the work of the committee would 

 be of great value. It is sometimes necessary to change the common 

 names of insects, and this matter should be referred to such a 

 committee. 



Mr. Osborn stated his opinion that the time had come to make a 

 beginning on this line of work, and offered the following resolution, 

 which was adoi)ted : 



Resolved, That a standing committee of three he appointed, to be called a 

 committee on nomenclature, members to hold office three years, one changing 

 each year, to consider and recommend adoptions and changes of names in use in 

 economic entomology; this committee being empowered to secure cooperation of 

 entomologists in various parts of the world, as they may find advisable. 



The following committee was appointed bj' the Chair: Mr. Osl)orn, 

 three years; Mr. Gillette, two years; Mr. Webster, one year. 

 Mr. Piper read a brief jjaper, entitled : 



NOTES ON PEKANABRUS SCABRICOLLIS. 



By C. V. PiPKH. W^asJiivgfrni, ]). C. 



This large locustid has periodically for a decade caused more or less 

 damage to the wlieat fields in Douglas County, Wash., in a linnted 

 area encompassed in a radius of 30 miles. In past outbreaks the 

 insects seem to have bred mainly in the bottoms of the large canj'ons 

 known as Moses Coulee and Grand Coulee, which are 800 to 1,000 

 feet lower than the plateau where wheat is grown. In years when 

 drought has caused a scarcity of food in the coulees the insects have 

 invaded the wheat fields in great armies and, while the country was 

 sparsely settled, ruined many isolated crops. After the country 

 became w^ell settled the farmers resorted to ditching to control the 

 insect, with perfect success. Indeed, it appears that along Moses 

 Coulee this process has reduced the numbers of the insects so 

 greatly that foi* some years past they have caused no apprehension. 

 It is stated by reliable farmers near the coulee that the insects started 

 to return to the lowei- altitudes when ready to oviposit, and that b,y 

 ditching against this return very few of the invading armj^ escaped. 

 Whether the insects actually do return in an army to the coulees to 

 oviposit is questionable. This conclusion of the farmei'S is based 

 largely on the fa(*t that the insects occur every yeai' in the coulee 

 bottom, and only when their numbers make food scarce do they 

 migrate out of the canj^on to the plateau above. 



