SECOND REPORT ON ECONOMIC BIOLOGY. 



INTRODUCTION. 



During- the past year upwards of three thousand three hundred 

 inquiries have been dealt with. Of these, two thousand three hundred 

 and seventy were connected with agriculture and horticulture, five 

 hundred and thirty with forestry, one hundred and seventy referred 

 to animal parasites and animal diseases, fifty-three to soil biology, 

 one hundred and ninety-two to household and commercial pests, and 

 one hundred and eight were of a miscellaneous nature. 



Applications for information have been dealt with from various 

 Colonial and Foreign Departments of Agriculture, Agricultural Col- 

 leges, County, Municipal, and Urban Councils, the Land Agents' 

 Society, the Midland Re-afforesting Association, the Warwickshire 

 Agricultural Society, and various farmers, fruit growers and com- 

 mercial organizations. 



My thanks are tendered to many fellow workers, particularly 

 to R. S. Bagnall, F.E.S., H. Willoughby Ellis, F.E.S., George 

 Massee, F.L.S., Albert D. Michael, F.L.S., and Dr. G. H. 

 Pethybridge. 



The losses occasioned by injurious insects and other animals and 

 fungus parasites during the year 1911 have far exceeded anything I 

 have previously known. The prolonged and dry summer has resulted, 

 in the maximum number of broods being produced, whilst the 

 drought told largely against the vitality of many crops, thus rendering 

 them unable to ward off the effects of insect or fungus attacks. 



On some farms and in many orchards the conditions have been 

 pitiful, indeed those who have taken all precautions have been no light 

 sufferers. 



