REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 1918 If 
Similar conditions, possibly more accentuated, may be expected 
another season. 
Forest tree pests. There has been comparatively little damage by 
insects to forest trees though there was some stripping of woodlands 
in the Catskills by caterpillars of the snow-white linden moth. The 
antlered maple caterpillar defoliated extensive areas in the nearby 
Berkshires and was reported from one New York locality. The fall, 
as in 1917, was characterized by an unusual abundance of hickory 
tussock moth caterpillars and associated species, though the damage 
does not appear to have been so extensive. 
Insects and health. The necessity of controlling flies and other 
insects frequenting human habitations has been greatly emphasized 
by the extensive mobilization of troops. This was anticipated by 
the Entomologist in the preparation of Household and Camp Insects 
(Museum Bulletin 194), which appeared in February 1917. The 
publication was widely distributed among military officers as well as 
to those specially interested in work of this kind throughout the 
country. There has beena constant demand for the bulletin through- 
out the season. 
The importance of insect control in camp and field is apparent 
when it is recalled that diseases have been responsible for more 
deaths in armies during war times than are caused by wounds and 
that such infections as typhus, cholera, malaria of various types, 
trench fever and typhoid fever may be carried by insects and some 
of the more important of these infections are disseminated only by 
such agents. It therefore follows that the application of precise 
knowledge regarding the habits of insects to the extremely varied 
conditions encountered by an army in the field and particularly an 
appreciation of the benefits resulting from the avoidance or ameli- 
oration of conditions favorable to the reproduction of dangerous 
insects, means an enormous advantage to the units in a position to 
utilize such knowledge. 
The broader phases of insect control and sanitation were discussed 
by the entomologists at the Pittsburgh meeting of the American 
Association of Economic Entomologists and as an outcome a special 
committee, of which the State Entomologist was a member, was 
appointed for the purpose of promoting the better utilization of the 
entomological talent of the country in army sanitation. ‘There 
have been several conferences with representatives of the surgeon 
general and a number of entomologists are now demonstrating the 
utility of their calling as active members of sanitary corps. Fur- 
thermore, the Entomologist, upon the invitation of the camp surgeon, 
