REPORT OK THE SOCIFTY 17 



In Plant Pathology Duggar's Fungous Diseases of Plants, vStevens and 

 Hall's Diseases of Economic Plants, Stevens' Fungi which cause Plant Diseases, 

 Hesler and Whetzel's Manual of Fruit Diseases, E. F. Smith's Bacteria in Relation 

 to Plant Diseases give detailed information regarding the diseases discussed, 

 thus placing at the disposal of students much of the information which 

 was heretofore available only in widely scattered bulletins and periodicals. 

 Mention should be made also of the recent works of Massee, Kuster, Sorauer and 

 Harshberger, which discuss at greater length certain aspects of fungi that are 

 merely touched upon by the writers mentioned above. 



The American journal Phytopathology belongs to this decade, its first number 

 having appeared in January-February, 1911. 



Perhaps the most outstanding feature of recent work against insect and fun- 

 gous pests has been the introduction of new and improved methods of investi- 

 gation and control. Each pest is being studied, as far as possible, under natural 

 conditions in the open field, with the object of determining all the factors that play 

 a part in the life of both host and pest. No phase is too trivial for examination, 

 for it sometimes happens that apparently trivial and minor factors turn out to be 

 important; for example, the discovery of a pre-oviposition period for many 

 Diptera furnishes us with a means of controlling them at this vulnerable period. 

 The study of parasites has given us an increased knowledge of the habits of these 

 friends, and greater use is being made of them in combatting some of our worst 

 pests. 



In a word, the ecological relations of insects and fungi have been studied to 

 much advantage. But these relations are often very intricate, and only a be- 

 ginning has been made in their investigation. Isolated facts have been deter- 

 mined, but general principles have not yet been discovered. It is becoming 

 clearer every year that w^e are woefully ignorant of many of the most important 

 ecological facts concerning the most common economic insects. It is becoming 

 clear also that the entomologist must co-operate with the physicist, the chemist, 

 the physiologist, and the geologist before important advances can be made to- 

 wards the solution of most of the problems confronting the ecologist who has to 

 deal with the dynamic relations of the organism and its environment. 



Great advances have also been made in the use of insecticides and fungicides. 

 New chemicals have come into use, and old ones have been modified. Spraying 

 machinery has been greatly improved so that more effective results are secured. 



Time prevents me from describing further many other advances that have 

 taken place during the last decade, but enough has been said to show the wonder- 

 ful strides in our own sphere of activity. 



