REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I918 15 



Mr Young, in addition to numerous identifications for correspond- 

 ents, and other routine work, has made material progress in arrang- 

 ing and classifying the important parasitic flies belonging to the 

 Tachinidae and is now devoting much time to the difficult 

 Anthomyiidae, among which latter are found such pests as the onion 

 maggot and the cabbage maggot. He was also exceptionally 

 fortunate in collecting at Wells a large series ofAmphicoma 

 V u 1 p i n a Hentz, an extremely rare Scaraebaeid hitherto repre- 

 sented in the state collections by only one or two specimens without 

 a recorded locality. 



Miss Hartman's time has been fully occupied, in addition to 

 numerous routine duties, by the many translations of technical 

 literature needed in systematic work, the making of numerous excel- 

 lent microscopic preparations of smaller insects, the arrangement 

 and care of the pressed specimens of insect work and the extensive 

 accumulations of alcoholic material. 



The maintenance and development of an adequate representation 

 of the insect life of the State means an enormous amount of work 

 and with the passing of the present war stringency more adequate 

 provision should be made for this line of activity. There are more 

 than twenty thousand species of insects in the State, each repre- 

 sented by at least four stages and not a few presenting marked dif- 

 ferences between the various molts or instars of the larva. This 

 gives an idea of the enormous number of forms falling within the 

 province of the entomologist. A thoroughly representative state 

 collection should contain specimens of all and in the case of the many 

 variable species, specimens of both typical and aberrant forms. 

 Such a collection possesses not only scientific value because of the 

 immense amount of material assembled and the lines of develop- 

 ment illustrated, but is of great practical service in the speedy 

 identification of any one of the thousand of insects of the State which 

 without warning may become suddenly abundant and destructive. 

 It is well known that satisfactory control measures can not be 

 advised without at least some knowledge of the habits of the insect, 

 and the more complete this is the more reliable the recommendations. 



The development of collections requires adequate space. The 

 constant increments of recent years have filled the boxes or trays to 

 such an extent that there is urgent need of more space for this 

 material. The wooden cases containing the insect collections should 

 be replaced by steel cabinets and more provided to accommodate the 

 additional boxes and trays required. Biological material, specimens 

 difficult to secure and not easily preserved in a satisfactory manner 



