INSECT CONTROL INVESTIGATIONS—KNIPLING 
ects or expanded available facilities to 
undertake research along lines under- 
way at Orlando. The Orlando group 
cooperated with these agencies which 
included the U. S. Army and Navy, 
Rockefeller Foundation, ‘Tennessee 
Valley Authority, Food and Drug 
Administration, U. S. Public Health 
Service, and various groups conduct- 
ing research under contract with the 
Office of Scientific Research and De- 
velopment. Close contact and ex- 
change of information was also main- 
tained with laboratories and scientific 
workers in allied foreign countries. 
Financing 
The approximate expenditure of 
funds allotted the Bureau by the Office 
of Scientific Research and Develop- 
ment during the period March 1942 
to October 1945 totaled $815,000. In 
addition the Bureau furnished available 
facilities such as automatic equipment, 
experimental aircraft, laboratory facil- 
ities, equipment and administrative 
supervision. The Army also contrib- 
uted much in the way of equipment, 
especially experimental aircraft, as 
well as enlisted personnel, and aided 
in many other ways. In general the 
over-all expenditure of funds to carry 
out the research program during the 
war at the Orlando laboratory 
amounted to about 1 million dollars. 
Problems Studied and Results Obtained 
To appreciate fully the scope of the 
research undertakings at Orlando, the 
reader should bear in mind that many 
kinds of insects were involved in our 
global attack on the problem and that 
control measures had to be applied 
under many conditions throughout the 
world. 
The objective of the laboratory was 
to appraise quickly and in a simple 
way the potential value of materials 
and methods under consideration for 
insect control. During the course of 
the investigations approximately 10,- 
000 chemicals, chemical formulations, 
or items of equipment were studied. 
333 
Our main job was to sift the wheat 
from the chaff, so to speak, and of 
this number hardly more than one 
dozen reached a state of practical use, 
The development of a material for 
practical application with a minimum 
of delay was uppermost in the minds 
of the research personnel. ‘There was 
little time for methodical research— 
many important leads which a peace- 
time or an academic scientist might 
wish to follow were discarded. In- 
stead, we cut corners whenever possible 
in order to reach an end point to make 
specific recommendations or to suggest 
what might be tried by the army in 
large-scale practical tests. We had to 
keep in touch with industry, for indus- 
trial firms assumed the responsibility 
of manufacturing or formulating the 
products and only materials which 
could be produced commercially were 
investigated extensively. It was neces- 
sary to consult with toxicologists who 
assumed the responsibility of judging 
if materials were safe to use on man. 
Because of the necessity of this 
practical approach to the problems 
under study there was little oppor- 
tunity for basic work. However, basic 
research was undertaken when neces- 
sary, and in the course of investigations 
much information of a fundamental 
nature was developed. 
The major projects undertaken and 
the results accomplished are briefly 
discussed in the pages that follow. 
Although the major objectives were 
clear-cut, the course of the work and 
the degree of emphasis on various as- 
pects were shifted as the research 
progressed and as the needs of our 
military forces and others faced with 
the problem of protecting themselves 
from insect attack were presented. 
Lice 
The project given the highest prior- 
ity during the early stages of investi- 
gation was the control of human lice. 
Of the three species attacking man 
(body louse, head louse, and crab 
louse), the body louse (Pediculus 
humanus corporis, Deg.) was of most 
