December 6, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



•773 



a large scale of the efficacy of the control 

 measures recommended. Even these field 

 demonstrations, however, have been met 

 with a conservatism in cultural methods, 

 that has proved quite as fatal as the 

 original failure to pass the initial control 

 law. At the present time it seems that the 

 further spread of the insect can not be 

 stopped, but so soon as this crop method 

 conservatism can be overcome, the cotton 

 boll weevil will cease to be a pest of the 

 first rank, and the cultivation of cotton 

 can be carried on almost as successfully in 

 its presence as it was in its absence. In 

 the course of this investigation there has 

 been accumulated a mass of information 

 concerning this insect which has probably 

 never been exceeded in the study of any 

 one species. For six years a well-selected 

 and large force of trained entomologists 

 have been investigating every phase of its 

 life, and this in itself has never been done 

 to the same extent with any other species; 

 but, curiously enough, this work has not 

 yet been completed, and the reason is that 

 the weevil coming from Mexico has been 

 steadily advancing into new territory 

 where conditions of the soil, temperature, 

 moisture and crop methods are different. 

 It has shown itself adaptable to changes 

 in these particulars to an extraordinary 

 degree; it is still advancing; it is still 

 changing its habits, and we may reason- 

 ably expect to see marked differential de- 

 velopments between such radically differ- 

 ent conditions as those that exist in the 

 dry, sandy cotton lands of Texas and the 

 moist climate and heavy soil of the Missis- 

 sippi bottom lands. This investigation 

 must therefore still continue. 



In this work against the cotton boll 

 weevil we see, therefore, another striking 

 development of economic entomology. The 

 large sums appropriated by congress and 

 by the different states have necessitated 

 the employment of an increasing force, of 



trained entomologists. The agricultural 

 colleges of the United States have been 

 obliged to meet this demand for additional 

 assistance; through this cause, and many 

 others, already mentioned, or to be men- 

 tioned, the importance of training in eco- 

 nomic entomology in these agricultural col- 

 leges has become intensified; the men at 

 the heads of these departments of instruc- 

 tion have been obliged to change their 

 methods; they have kept up with the 

 progress of field and laboratory work and 

 have trained their students in the newest 

 developments. The increase in the num- 

 ber of scientifically trained and working 

 economic entomologists has been remark- 

 able, and will be referred to later in this 

 address. 



It has already been stated that the work 

 of the state of Massachusetts against the 

 gipsy moth was already well under way in 

 1894. This work has since had its vicis- 

 situdes, and it offers a remarkable example 

 of what can be done and what should be 

 done in face of great emergencies such as 

 it presented, and still presents, and it offers 

 also an extraordinary example of the short- 

 sightedness, temporary, at least, of legis- 

 lators. The work continued with excellent 

 success down to the year 1900. The ex- 

 termination of the gipsy moth at that time 

 was almost in sight. It had actually been 

 exterminated over considerable extents of 

 territory. The conservative estimate of 

 those in charge of the work placed the 

 period of the termination of state appro- 

 priation at only a few years in advance. 

 Mark the resiilt. The appropriation was 

 dropped in 1900, and for the next five 

 years no work was done against this insect, 

 except that done by private property 

 owners. All of the ground gained by the 

 former work was lost, the insect multiplied 

 in increasing numbers, and a large extent 

 of new territory became infested, making 

 the problem many times more important 



