g 
Association. Its influence, directly and indirectly, for the better- 
inent of applied entomology has been most important and is increas- 
ing from year to year. The bulletins which contain the proceedings 
of the 16 annual meetings of the association, and which cover in all 
1,541 pages, are a most valuable feature of our literature. 
It must be a matter of much satisfaction to all entomologists to 
note the increasing appreciation in which the work of the economic 
entomologist is held, both by his constituents and the general publi. 
In the earlier days of the science his work was often far from appre- 
ciated at its true worth. Experience, however, has been a constant 
teacher. Certain injurious insects, by their widespread injury to 
important farm and orchard crops, have served to bring prominently 
before the people the importance of the role which insects play, not 
only in the matter of crop production, but in influencing the price of 
staple articles of food and clothing in the markets of the world. 
The recently established fact of the transmission and carriage of 
diseases of man by mosquitoes and flies has arrested the attention of 
people of many classes, and, along with other discoveries of scarcely 
less importance, has been the means of exciting the interest and 
attention of many who previously were largely ignorant of the work 
and aims of the science. The considerable alarm following the 
announcement of the establishment of the San Jose scale in the East 
had scarcely begun to wane before the increasing ravages of the — 
Mexican cotton boll. weevil brought this species into wide notoriety, 
and probably never in the history of the world has an insect species 
been more generally the subject of comment than has the latter. 
The present recognized importance of insect control in its relation 
to the welfare of our agricultural classes can not be better indicated 
than by calling attention to the prominent mention given to ento- 
mological matters by the President in his recent message to the 
Congress of the United States. The following are his words: 
The cotton crop of the country is threatened with root rot and with bollworm 
and the boll weevil. Our pathologists will find immune varieties that will resist 
the root rot, and the bollworm can be dealt with, but the boll weevil is a serious 
menace to the cotton crop. It is a Central American insect that has become 
acclimated in Texas and has done great damage. <A scientist of the Department 
of Agriculture has found the weevil at home in Guatemala, being kept in check 
by an ant which has been brought to our cotton fields for observation. It is 
hoped that it may serve a good purpose. * * * 
The insect friends and enemies of the farmer are getting attention. The 
enemy of the San Jose scale was found near the Great Wall of China and is now 
cleaning.up our orchards. The fig-fertilizing insect imported from Turkey has 
helped to establish an industry in California that amounts to from 50 to 100 
tons of dried figs annually, and is extending over the Pacific coast. <A parasitic 
fly from South Africa is keeping in subjection the black scale, the worst pest of 
the orange and lemon industry in California. 
