hybridization of wheat. Here also is found the immense collection of 

 1'ermitidve (White Ants), made by Mr. Haviland, and afterwards worked out 

 by him and Dr. Sharp,, said to have cost some thousands of pounds to get 

 together. 



Through the kindness of Mr. G. H. Verrall, the well-known British 

 authority on Diptera (flies), I was enabled to go through his great collection, 

 which contains the Bigot Collection, bought by him some years ago, and in 

 which there are a great many types and Australian species. Among these 

 the fruit-flies were well represented, as Bigot had many specimens from the 

 east, and I was enabled to make many notes upon species, and the localities 

 in which they were found. 



At the London University, Gower-street, I went over the Zoological 

 laboratories with Professor J. P. Hill, late of the Sydney University, and 

 saw their teaching collections. At Nottingham, I met Professor Carr at the 

 University, where there is an agricultural branch of investigation, and, also, 

 the Rev. A. Thornly, who is in charge of the nature-study work in all the 

 schools of several of the midland counties ; and he wanted to know all about 

 our work and methods in Australia. 



I attended a meeting of the Linnean Society of London, and heard a very 

 interesting paper by Mr. Sutton on the development and origin of the 

 cultivated potato, with a suggestion that it might be possible to produce a 

 variety which would withstand the potato blight. 



Later on, I attended the monthly meeting of the Entomological Society of 

 London, where I met a number of the leading British entomologists, and, at 

 the request of the President, made a few remarks on our work in Australia. 



At the request of the Victorian Agent-General (Mr. Taverner) I spent an 

 .afternoon with Mr. F. H. Middleton, Entomologist and General Adviser to 

 the Board of Agriculture, who was rather despondent as to the attitude that 

 the ordinary English horticulturist takes towards spraying, fumigating, or 

 otherwise dealing with insect pests. On the question of rabbits, he said that 

 the Danyz rat virus has worked well in London in destroying rats, and 

 " Rattin," a German preparation is also used. He gave me a copy of the 

 Acts to deal with vegetable and plant diseases, and other reports. The Act 

 first passed is entitled " An Act for preventing the introduction and spreading 

 of Insects destructive to Crops," 1877, August, and was passed at the time when 

 the Colorado Beetle, or Potato Bug, of America (Doryphora decemlineata) 

 was discovered in England, introduced with a cargo of American potatoes. 

 The finul section reads : "This Act may be cited as the Destructive Insects 

 Act, 1877." Last year (4th July, 1907) the second one, " An Act to extend 

 the Destructive Insects Act, 187*7, to all Pests destructive to crops, trees, or 

 bushes," was passed. The first section is as follows :"(!.) The Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries may, for the purpose of preventing the introduction 

 into Great Britain of any insect, fungus, or other pest destructive to agri- 

 cultural or horticultural crops, or to trees or bushes, and for preventing the 

 spreading in Great Britain of any such insect, fungus, or other pest, exercise 

 all such powers as may be exercised by the Board in relation to the Colorado 

 beetle under the Destructive Insects Act, 1877; and that Act shall apply 

 accordingly, as if in that Act, the expression 'insect' included all such 

 insects, fungi, and other pests, and the expression ' crop ' included all such 

 crops, trees, and bushes." 



This is the first comprehensive Act of this kind passed in Great Britain, 

 and though I am told that it was passed to deal with the American Goose- 

 berry Mildew (Sphwrotheca mors-uvw, Berk.), it will be seen to include 

 all pests. 



