ee ee ey ey 
ENTOMOLOGY AND THE WAR—HOWARD. 419 
This statement of the work of the entomologists during the war 
might be extended very considerably. Many additional instances of — 
the value of their labors might be detailed; but perhaps the impres- 
sion which will be left by what has just been said will be quite as 
strong as if more facts were added and more time used. 
Perhaps this is an opportunity, however, to call attention in a strik- 
ing manner to the work which the economic entomologists are doing 
all the time. While all this other intensive work was going on, for 
example, the Federal entomologists were making a great fight in 
Texas by which the pink bollworm has apparently been absolutely 
wiped out in the districts in the United States infested last year and 
at the same time there has developed a system by which damage done 
by the cotton boll weevil can economically be greatly reduced, which 
may be said to be the culmination of the work of many years. 
Incidentally it may be mentioned that the preeminently practical 
men who have, under the State and Federal Governments, been work- 
ing for years in this extremely practical and important field, had 
supposed that the value of their work was generally recognized and 
that they were known to be scientifically trained and competent in- 
vestigators whose advice and help meant everything in the warfare 
against insect life. But they were surprised and chagrined to find 
that even in certain high official circles the old idea of the entomolo- 
gist still held—that he was a man whose life was devoted to the differ- 
entiation of species by the examination of the number of spines on the 
legs and the number of spots on the wings. The economic entomolo- 
gists are thus evidently still unappreciated. Shall they change the 
name of their profession to avoid the survival of the old association 
with trivial things, or shall they work steadily on with the ultimate 
hope of gaining the confidence and respect even of the old-fashioned 
element of the people? 
