THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF ENTOMOLOGY. 273 



epidemic ; to prepare maps of areas infected, and to communicate 

 these, with the records, to all Governments interested. Mr. 

 Eogers's practical suggestions were accepted and endorsed by 

 the Congress, which at a later stage unanimously resolved to 

 support cordially the proposed formation by the International 

 Institute of Agriculture at Kome of an International Commission 

 to deal with these problems, as the best means to secure the 

 greatest amount of protection with the least injury to inter- 

 national trade in natural products. 



As a further practical demonstration of the place of bio- 

 nomics — the study of life-history — in economic entomology, a 

 paper on "Aphides Attacking Cultivated Peas" may be men- 

 tioned. Professor F. V. Theobald declares that he has failed to 

 find in this country a single instance of pest control by natural 

 enemies, and regards birds as our most valuable allies, even the 

 much- abused sparrow coming in for special tribute as a greedy 

 consumer of green -fly, in company with such insectivorous 

 species as the whitethroats and smaller tits. He had discovered, 

 however, that the suspected pea-pests of the genus Macrosiphum 

 contained more species than was supposed, some of which were 

 harmless to the plants in question, while a study of the life-history 

 of the destructive green-pea aphis revealed the fact that its earlier 

 phases are passed upon clover. In Canada this aphis is also very 

 injurious, but, as Dr. Gordon Hewitt pointed out, the conditions 

 there appear to be different, and it is usually controlled by a 

 small Braconid parasite. On the subject of locust destruction, 

 Mr. J. Jablonowski (Budapest) presented an extremely instruc- 

 tive series of lantern- slide pictures to illustrate the methods 

 employed by the Hungarian Government to combat the ravages 

 of the species known as Stauronotus maroccanus, showing the 

 systematic division of infected areas within canvas screens, the 

 way in which the insects were driven towards them, and how, 

 when they attempted to surmount the fences, they were des- 

 troyed and burned. He said that by means of the apparatus 

 employed the total cost of the operations had been reduced from 

 something ai^proaching three million krone to about 270,000 

 krone, contrasting more than favourably with that incurred 

 by the British Government in Cyprus under similar con- 

 ditions. 



In the pathological department Dr. Stephen A. Forbes 

 (U.S.A.) contributed a valuable series of observations on " Sinm- 

 Hum and Pellagra in Illinois, U.S.A." We are accustomed to 

 associate this terrible human scourge in Europe with rural Italy, 

 and hitherto the transmission of the disease germs has been 

 attributed to the agency of a species of sand-fly, breeding in 

 streams and running water, but never, like the mosquito, in 

 stagnant pools. Dr. Forbes, however, has failed to associate 

 directly the many cases of pelagra investigated in his State 



