660 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 957 



what insect pests it is likely to import from 

 other countries and the best methods of pre- 

 venting their introduction and spread. 



2. The authoritative identification of in- 

 sects of economic importance submitted by the 

 officials of the Departments of Agriculture of 

 Public Health throughout the empire. 



3. The publication of a monthly journal 

 giving concise and useful summaries of all 

 the current literature which has a practical 

 bearing on the investigation and control of 

 noxious insects. 



The scheme was accepted by the various 

 self-governing dominions and colonies which 

 were invited to cooperate, and the crown-col- 

 onies and British protectorates will also par- 

 ticipate in the advantages of the Imperial 

 Bureau of Entomology which has now been es- 

 tablished. The former entomological research 

 committee has become the honorary com- 

 mittee of management with the eminent ad- 

 ministrator, the Earl of Cromer, as president 

 and the scientific secretary of the cormnittee, 

 Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall, has been made di- 

 rector of the bureau and editor of the journal. 

 The government entomologists of the domin- 

 ions are ex-ojficio members of the committee 

 of management. 



The publication of the bureau's journal, 

 which is entitled The Review of Applied Ento- 

 mology, was commenced in January. It ia 

 being published in two parts: Series A, Agri- 

 cultural, and Series B, Medical and Veteri- 

 nary. As the organization and library of the 

 bureau becomes perfected the value of this 

 journal to entomological workers can not be 

 overestimated, when it is remembered that 

 there are no less than 1,700 periodicals, scien- 

 tific, agricultural and medical, which may con- 

 tain articles dealing with entomology, but a 

 small proportion of which widely scattered 

 entomologists have the opportunity of seeing 

 or the time to consult. 



An idea of one aspect of the three years 

 work of the original entomological research 

 committee will be gathered from the fact that 

 the collections received from collectors in trop- 

 ical Africa and other parts of the world dur- 

 ing that time amounted to about 190,000 in- 



sects, of which no less than 56,000 were actual 

 or potential disease carriers. The value of 

 this function of the Bureau to entomologists 

 situated in portions of the empire where there 

 are no collections and little literature to aid 

 in identification work will be realized by their 

 more fortunate fellow-workers. 



It has been stated in the press that the Im- 

 perial Bureau of Entomology will serve the 

 needs of the British Empire in a manner sim- 

 ilar to that in which the United States Bureau 

 of Entomology serves those of the United 

 States. This statement, however, is not cor- 

 rect. Its primary function will be that of an 

 intelligence bureau, collecting information for 

 the use of the British countries supporting it 

 and assisting entomologists and other officials 

 in those countries in the identification of their 

 material. By the methods which have been 

 mentioned, and by the publication of The Re- 

 view of Applied Entomology, and of The Bul- 

 letin of Entomological Research, it will fur- 

 nish a means of assistance and of coordination 

 of effort in the war against noxious insects 

 which will undoubtedly soon make its services 

 invaluable in the further development of the 

 countries of the British Empire. Interna- 

 tional as the scope of its inquiries are, the 

 work of the Bureau can not but prove to be 

 one of the most potent factors in enabling us 

 to develop the agricultural and other re- 

 sources of the empire and our fellow-workers 

 in non-British countries can avail them- 

 selves, through its journal, of some of the 

 fruits of the Bureau's work. 



C. Gordon Hewitt, 

 Dominion Entomologist 



Ottawa, Canada, 

 March, 1913 



THE COMMITTEE ON TEE PACIFIC COAST 



MEETING OF TSE AMERICAN 



ASSOCIATION 



The committee on the Pacific Coast meet- 

 ing of the American Association held its first 

 meeting at the University of California on 

 April 12, 1913, with Director CampbeU in 

 the chair. About twenty members were pres- 



