INSECTS IN RELATION TO MAN 407 



Based upon the foundation laid by Riley, the work of the 

 Division (now -the Bureau) of Entomology has steadily pro- 

 gressed, under the leadership of Dr. Leland O. How r ard. With 

 a comprehensive and firm grasp of his subject, alert to discover 

 and develop new possibilities, energetic and resourceful in 

 management, Dr. Howard has brought the government work 

 in applied entomology to its present position of commanding 

 importance. Admirably organized, the Bureau now maintains 

 a corps of about fifty experts, and the total output of the Divi- 

 sion and the Bureau now amounts to nearly one hundred bul- 

 letins and more than half as many circulars. 



The Department of Agriculture has recently succeeded in 

 starting a new and important industry in California the cul- 

 ture of the Smyrna fig. The superior flavor of this variety 

 is due to the presence of ripe seeds, or, in other words, to 

 fertilization, and for this it is necessary for pollen of the wild 

 fig, or " caprifig," to be transferred to the flowers of the 

 Smyrna fig. Normally this pollination, or " caprification," 

 is dependent upon the services of a minute chalcid, Blast oph- 

 aga grossorum, which develops in the gall-like flowers of 

 the caprifig. The female insect, which in this exceptional in- 

 stance is winged while the male is not, emerges from the gall 

 covered with pollen, enters the young flowers of the Smyrna 

 fig to oviposit, and incidentally pollenizes them. 



After many discouraging attempts, Blastopkaga, imported 

 from Algeria, has now been established in California, and the 

 new industry is developing rapidly. 



Canada. The development of economic entomology in 

 Canada has been due largely to the efforts of Dr. James 

 Fletcher, of the Dominion Experimental Farms, Ottawa, 

 whose annual reports and other writings indicate ability of an 

 exceptional order. His work has been furthered in every way 

 by the " eminent director of the experimental farms system, 

 Dr. William Saunders, himself a pioneer in economic ento- 

 mology in Canada and the author of one of the most valuable 

 treatises upon the subject that has ever been published in 

 America." 



