1974] 
Matthews — Cambridge Entomological Club 
29 
World War II 
During the thirties, the Club meetings were enthusiastically at- 
tended, the average being about 22. But this situation was shortly 
to change with entrance of the country into World War II. The 
December, 1941, meeting was held only two days after Pearl Harbor. 
No recorded mention of the war was made, however, until the fol- 
lowing February, when a symposium on Insects and the War was 
held at the regular meeting. Discussions were presented by Dr. 
Bequaert of the Medical School, Dr. J. E. Gordon of the Harvard 
Medical Unit in England, Dr. A. Getty of the Massachusetts 
Bureau of Public Health, and Dr. C. B. Philip of the U. S. Public 
Health Service. These speakers considered the expected increase in 
insect-borne diseases among the public in general, as a result of the 
rapid transfer and movements of armed forces. 
The Second World War had many more direct effects on the 
Club than the First did. By 1943, attendance at meetings was down 
to 7 or 8 members and it was apparent that the situation was going to 
become worse in the days immediately ahead, as one after another of 
the Club’s members left to serve, directly or indirectly, in the war. 
In December, 1943, with only Carpenter, George Erickson (the 
Club’s secretary), and one other member present, the meeting was 
held at the Harvard Faculty Club library, “where they discussed 
possible means whereby an active nucleus of the Club might be main- 
tained during the War.” For all of 1944 this small group of three 
or four met at the library on the second Tuesday of each month to 
carry on the Club’s tradition. Some type of program was always 
included. At the meeting of February 15, for example, Private Floyd 
Werner (elected a member in 1939), on leave from the army, pre- 
sented a paper on the “Distribution of Certain Species of the Beetle 
Genus EpicautaC In another year, the war was coming to a close 
and members began returning; and by the end of 1945 the meetings 
reverted to their pre-war time, place and vigor. The “active nucleus’* 
had indeed been maintained, and the continuity of the Club insured. 
Recent Years 
Since 1950 the Club has continued with notable consistency, though 
with some obvious and distinctive trends. The attendance at meet- 
ings, for example, has been on the increase. The average attendance 
for the meetings of the decade 1953-54 to 1962-63 was 29, with the 
election of 62 new members; the average for the period from 1963-64 
to 1972-73 was 38, with election of 133 new members. Although 
