624 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



museum for future reference. The army biscuit enquiry has pre- 

 viously been mentioned in these pages; even those in high places 

 have learnt from it that there is a value in the stucty of Micro- 

 Lepidopetra. Indeed we are informed that the mere labour of turning 

 over infected biscuits in time of peace cost the country £10,000 a 

 year, which has been saved by the recommendations of this com- 

 mittee. The Royal Society committee on grain pests deals with the 

 organisms that attack grain when in store and in course of shipment 

 to this country ; the loss thus caused is great, and, as in the case of 

 biscuits, is largely due to the larvae of Micro-Lepidoptera. 



We can mention but a tithe of the matters on which this depart- 

 ment has given useful advice : Insects attacking the envelope of air- 

 ships, locust plagues, protection of telephone and telegraph apparatus 

 in the Tropics and elsewhere, warbles on cattle, deer, and army horses, 

 numerous cases of damage to food stores on H. M. ships and in 

 private ownership, remedies for the cockroach in many hospitals, for 

 body vermin on soldiers serving or in hospital, and for the rice 

 weevil in connection with beriberi, serious ravages of the cotton worm 

 on a plantation in Montserrat, the plague of mosquitoes in the 

 trenches and in this country. The investigation of the last mentioned 

 is still in progress, and specimens, accompanied by notes as to their 

 occurrence and habits, will gladly be received by the assistant in 

 charge. 



To continue the list would be easy but wearisome. Let us bring it 

 to a close with two facts. First, during the past year the museum 

 was consulted by no less than fourteen Government departments. 

 Secondly, a single day quite recently brought the following letters: 

 An urgent request from G. H. Q. in France for lantern slides dealing 

 with camouflage, or what naturalists call protective mimicry and 

 coloration; a confidential enquiry from the war committee of the 

 Royal Society, involving considerable reseach ; a letter from the War 

 Office requesting facilities for the study of Macedonian mosquitoes 

 by an officer of the R. A. M. C. ; a plea from the direction of the 

 Y. M. C. A. for two hours' extra opening for the benefit of oversea 

 soldiers in London. 



This last enquirj^ may remind our readers of the great educational 

 work performed by the exhibition galleries. Further allusion to that 

 lies outside our present intention, which is to convey some idea 

 of one branch of the work which, though unseen and unspoken of, 

 is ever in progress. Important though it be, it is by no means the 

 main work of the museum. What its relation to that main work is, 

 we hope to show on a future occasion. 



