1080 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



centralized in order to obtain the best economy and efficiency. That is 

 the first thing we want — a thfTough knowledge of the insects concerned 

 —and it is not a bit of good to recommend control measm-es before we 

 have this thorough knowledge. We can of course recommend what 

 Mr. Ghosh calls the " catch and kUl " policy, as in the case of bagging 

 of grasshoppers, but measures of that sort are mere temporary palliatives 

 and are not control-measures as I regard the word " control." In the 

 second place, there is room for a considerable amount of education on 

 the part of the raiyat as regards the life-histories and methods of life 

 of the commoner insects. That is in some respects simple work, only 

 requiring organization, but it is rather outside the scope of the investiga- 

 tional staff and could well be left to Provincial activities provided that 

 it was done in close co-operation with the entomological side of the 

 work in order to ensure acciuacy. But I thinlv strongly that the investi- 

 gational work must come first. Otherwise, if you start to tell the raiyat 

 this and that about insects, the first thing he will want to know wilLbe 

 the practical question of control. If your investigational work has got 

 far enough to have elucidated definite lines of control, the raiyat will 

 then be willing to listen to what you have to say, if you can tell him not 

 only about the life-history but also about the control ; but, if your 

 information stoj)s short at the life-history and you camiot answer his 

 questions about control, I doubt whether he wUl see the practical value 

 of what you have to tell him. As far as Nature Study is concerned I 

 quite agree that insects form a suitable subject for use in India but 

 many of the lessons on insects in text-books in use in India are, I think, 

 founded on insects which are not Indian and this point requires amending 

 and the text-books checked by competent entomological workers. 



I think that we might have a Resolution on this subject. I have 

 drafted one and, if it meets with general approval, perhaps Mr. Ghosh 

 would like to propose it. 



I propose the following Resolution : — 



" This Meeting— 



(1) considers, in v,ew of the great importance of a knowledge o£ 



insects and insect life-histories to the peoples of India, that 

 readers for use in the primary schools in India should, as 

 fa: as possible, eontam simply written accounts of some of 

 the insects commonly found in the Provinces concerned. 



(2) suggests th'^t entomology shculd figure prominently in all 



courses of Nature Study, and 



