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NEWS LETTER OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. / 
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Number 11. March, 1915. 
NEWS FROM AN ENTOMOLOGIST AT LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA. 
A full and entertaining report has recently been received from Mr. W. F. Fiske, who is 
engaged in the investigation of the tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) for the Tropical Disease Com- 
mission. 
It was written on an unnamed island in Lake Victoria Nyanza on January 10, 1915. At 
the outbreak of the war Mr. Fiske was called in from the field but later was given authority to 
visit various islands in the lake. 
He reports that the main conclusions at which he arrived before he went to Africa, and 
which were published in the bulletin of Entomological Research, have been verified, although a 
great deal of additional information has been obtained. He plans to remain in the vicinity 
of Victoria Nyanza for the next 14 months. [W. D. Hunrer.] 
HAVE ALL FOOD PLANTS ACCURATELY NAMED. 
There is a great deal of confusion in the literature of economic entomology on account of 
inaccuracy and a lack of definiteness in remarks about food plants. Such expressions as ‘‘taken 
feeding upon Rumex sp.,” “‘in wood of Cornus,” and so on, occur altogether too frequently. 
I had a letter recently from Mr. E. Ernest Green, asking me to find out for him the real 
names of a very lengthy list of food plants taken from Mrs. Fernald’s Catalogue of Described 
Coccide. It took me several weeks before I could straighten the list out, everi measurably, 
for him. The men in the bureau should find it very simple to secure accurate determinations 
by sending the specimens to Washington, or the nearest agricultural college, and it is hoped 
that especial care will be taken in this respect in the future. [L. O. Howarp.] 
AN INDEX OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 
The index of economic entomology, covering the literature since 1905, is now fairly under 
way. ‘Two typewriters are engaged in assisting Mr. Nathan Banks in the preparation of the 
manuscript, and a third will soon be employed. More than one-half of the experiment-station 
literature has been indexed, and work on the publications of the Bureau of Entomology is 
nearing completion. 
It is estimated that there will be at least 25,000 entries. [N. Banxs.] 
RULING OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT RELATIVE TO LAUNDRY 
CHARGES IN EXPENSE ACCOUNTS. 
On October 5, 1914, the Comptroller of the Treasury Department rendered another decision 
relative to laundry, in which he stated in part as follows: 
I have in several decisions expressed my personal disapproval of the inclusion of such items in travel expenses to 
be paid by the Government * * * , holding that they are to be charged, however, against the allowance for sub- 
sistence. 
The general rule which must ordinarily be followed in charging items of this character is that they must be charged 
as subsistence for the day on which they are paid. This is founded on the theory that they are usually paid on the day 
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