[Editorial Note. — The four papers following were presented at a 

 special memorial meeting of the Section of Biology, held in the museum 

 May 28, 1912, in honor of the late John B. Smith, Sc.D., State Entomolo- 

 gist of New Jersey and Professor of Entomology in Rutgers College. 

 Professor Smith's valuable cooperation in the work of ridding Staten 

 Island of mosquitoes, and his cordial interest in the welfare of our 

 public museum, to. which he made many gifts, renders the publication 

 of these tributes to his scientific activities pecuharly appropriate in the 

 Proceedings.] 



The Work of Professor John B. Smith in Economic Entomology 



E. L. DiCKERSON 



When we are so near a man both in point of time and in asso- 

 ciation as we are to Professor Smith, it is difficult for us to judge 

 accurately what his standing will be in the special field in which 

 he labored. We are apt to be influenced by our personal preju- 

 dices, and having been so closely associated with him and having 

 seen his work at first hand, while that of other laborers in the 

 same field has been viewed from a distance, our vision is apt to be 

 distorted and our friend looms large before us. Nevertheless, 

 when we look with a view as unprejudiced as possible and en- 

 deavor to estimate carefully and fairly what he has accomplished 

 in economic entomology, we are impressed with the large amount 

 and importance of the work done and realize that he will always 

 be recognized as one of the important workers in that field. 



When Professor Smith's attention was first turned to economic 

 entomology I do not know, but the earliest record we have is that 

 of his becoming an assistant to Dr. C. V. Riley in the Division 

 of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture, in 1884. Of 

 the work done there perhaps the most important was that in con- 

 nection with cranberry insects and. in Bulletin No. 4, Old Series, 

 Bureau of Entomology, we find a report by Professor Smith on 

 hop and cranberry insects. The influence of this work is noted 



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