Makch 5, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



237 



not be met without Congressional aid. The 

 National Museum, under present conditions, 

 or better, limitations, can not possibly adopt 

 an adequate policy of entomological develop- 

 ment. The two prime obstacles are lack of 

 sufficient curators and lack of space. The 

 present force of curators, even with the aid 

 afforded by the members of the Bureau of 

 Entoantilogy, can not arrange and classify the 

 collections already on hand, incomplete as 

 these are. Some of the m^en work overtime 

 and on holidays, while help is sometimes ob- 

 tained from ihose not officially connected with 

 the museum. But all these activities lament- 

 ably fail to meet the whole need. The mu- 

 seum should have enough expert curators to 

 keep classified and in order, the available ma- 

 terial in every group of insects, and to furnish 

 identifications and other aid to economic ento- 

 mologists and other workers in every state. 

 Should a sufficient curatorial force be supplied, 

 however, it would be helpless in the present 

 crowded condition of the department. There 

 is hardly room to move around, and almost no 

 space for new calbinets. The only way out 

 seems to be through the erection of a new 

 building of suitable size; fireproof, but not 

 necessarily of any great architectural preten- 

 sions. 



Granting the building and the curators, 

 with suitable rules and arrangements to en- 

 sure the proper care of all the collections, what 

 more should be demanded? Undoubtedly col- 

 lectors and students would present or be- 

 queath their materials on a scale previously 

 unheard of, because of the great services they 

 bad received from the museum and their con- 

 fidence in it as a repository of types and other 

 priceless specimens. This, however, would not 

 suffice. Funds should be available for explora- 

 tions within the United States and abroad, to 

 discover insects hitherto unknown or unrepre- 

 sented in the museum. 



With curators, building and adequate col- 

 lections, we are still confronted by another 

 urgent need. The results of the work done 

 must be made available to scientific men in 

 every part of the country. This can only be 

 brought about through the creation of ade- 

 quate publishing facilities, insuring the rea- 



sonably prompt appearance of each work com- 

 pleted. At the present time authors hesitate 

 to undertake large monographs not knowing 

 when they wiU see the light of publicity, nor 

 indeed whether they will ever do so. 



Prepared by the committees to investigate 

 conditions and needs of the United States ITa- 

 tional Museum. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP AMERICA 

 T. D. A. COCKERELL, 



Professor of Zoology, University of 

 Colorado, 



Herbert Osborn, 

 Research Professor, Dept. of Zool- 

 ogy and Entomology, Ohio State 

 University, 



Wm. Barnes, 

 Surgeon, Decatur, Illinois, 



Wm. M. Wheeler, 

 Dean, Bussey Institution, Harvard 

 University. 



J. G. Needham, 

 Head, Dept. of Entomology, Cor- 

 nell University, 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGISTS 



John J. Davis, 

 In Charge, Japanese Beetle Project, 

 IST. J. State Dept. of Agri., 



Vernon L. Kellogg, 

 Sec'y !N"ational Research Council, 



E. P. Felt, 

 State Entomologist, New York, 



Herbert Osborn, 

 Research Professor, Dept. of Zool- 

 ogy and Entomology, Ohio State 

 University, 



E. D. Ball, 

 State Entomologist, Iowa, 

 Approved and adopted at St. Louis, Missouri, 

 by the Entomological Society of America on 

 December 30, 1919, and by the American 

 Association of Economic En^tomologists on 

 January 2, 1920. 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



MANGANESE IN COSTA RICA AND PANAMA 



Manganese deposits have been known in 

 Panama for many years, and some were ex- 



