REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I917 1 5 



Owing to the pressure of work incident to conducting the Insect 

 Pest Survey and Information Service, a large amount of labor 

 was necessarily devoted to the identification of numerous specimens 

 and as a consequence it was impossible to give the usual amount of 

 time to the very desirable and really necessary work of classifying 

 and arranging specimens already in the state collections. Numerous 

 microscopic preparations of smaller insects have been made and 

 incorporated in the collections as in earlier years. 



The work upon exotic Itonididae referred to above has resulted 

 in adding a number of types, both generic and specific, to an already 

 very large collection. A unique addition was that of Mr Howard 

 Notman of Keene Valley and Brooklyn, who generously donated a 

 collection of 648 admirably mounted specimens taken at Keene 

 Valley, a locality where comparatively little collecting has been done 

 in this group. Attention should also be called to the bees kindly 

 donated by Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell of Boulder, Col., and to the 

 African insects secured by exchange with Prof. H. T. Fernald of 

 Amherst, Mass. Other acquisitions are listed under Additions to 

 Collections. 



The constantly increasing specimens 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 collec- 

 tions should be replaced by steel cabinets and more provided to 

 accommodate the additional boxes and trays required. No adequate 

 provision has as yet been made for the constantly increasing biological 

 material, which is also true of the large number of microscopic 

 slides, many of them containing types of species and genera and 

 therefore unique. A metallic filing case for the collection of negatives 

 and photographs illustrating insects or their work is also greatly 

 needed. 



Earlier estimates indicate a native fauna of approximately 20,000 

 species which means fully 100,000 specimens if we are to have only 

 one representative of each sex and of each of the three other stages, 

 namely egg, larva and pupa, to say nothing of specimens illustrating 

 work and habitat. Many species should be represented by series 

 illustrating variations and habits. A state collection should possess 

 all these if it is to take its proper place in the exposition of our natural 

 resources. Much has been accomplished through the natural history 

 survey work summarized in the preceding report, though very much 

 still awaits the competent investigator. The urgency of the immedi- 

 ately practical should not eliminate research, since progress is possible 

 only through the latter. This is true not only of the development of 



