180 
SECTION ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
The Section on Entomology me1 at the Shoreham Hotel on the afternoons of 
November 17 ami is, L903. In the absence of the regular officers, J. B. Smith, of 
New Jersey, was elected temporary chairman, and C. M. Weed, of New Hampshire, 
temporary secretary. 
The first paper read was the following by A. D. Hopkins, of the Division of 
Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture: 
Methods of Work and Some Results in Forest Insect Investigations. 
The work of the forest entomologist differs in many respects from that of the 
entomologist who devotes his attention especially to horticultural and farm insects. 
The comparatively meager literature on American forest insects compels him to rely 
more on original investigations for the requisite knowledge of the life, history, habits, 
and natural enemies, on which to base conclusions relating to practical methods of 
preventing losses. * The methods of obtaining this information are peculiarly difficult 
and complicated, owing to the widely different conditions prevailing in the forests of 
the northeastern, southeastern and southern, central and northern, the southwestern 
and northwestern, the Pacific slope, and the Rocky Mountain regions of the country. 
Each section has its peculiar insects and widely differing problems, regarding 
which comparatively little is known. Long, tedious journeys have to be made by 
rail, stage, horseback, and on foot, and when the primitive forests are penetrated 
the services of a guide are often required. 
The equipment necessary for field work is a light ax or hatchet, a stout penknife, 
beating net, many small phials of various sizes, and a hunting coat with many small 
and large pockets. Trees must be felled, hark removed, sections of the trunk cut out, 
roots, trunks, and 1 (ranches examined, and specimens collected, each of which must 
be numbered and recorded in the notebook. The latter does not differ so much from 
the usual entomological work, but perhaps greater care must be exercised in deter- 
mining and recording facts on habits, life histories, and the peculiar relations of the 
insects to their hosts. The labor of procuring specimens of bark and wood showing 
characteristic work, and their transfer from the forests to the nearest shipping station 
or post-office is an item of considerable importance. Then one must know the trees 
from which the specimens are collected, and often botanical specimens must be 
taken for accurate determination. The forests must he studied to determine the 
relations of tires, storms, lumber operations, and general forest management to the 
multiplication of destructive insects, but above all to determine if any changes in 
management or lumbering operations will prevent losses from special enemies or 
classes of injuries. 
The breeding of forest insects also presents some peculiar features. Instead of the 
ordinary breeding cage, small phials and bottles of various sizes with cotton stoppers, 
glass jars with clamp tops, large, tight tin boxes, barrels and large wooden boxes, 
are the proper equipments for this purpose, with specially devised paraffin cells, or 
tin cages attached to the sides of trees, or wire cages to inclose stumps and sections of 
logs in the forest. 
The specimens of wood and hark, branches and leaves, showing the work of the 
insects require special cases for storage and classification, and the mass of material of 
this kind in a large collection requires much room for its proper arrangement for 
reference and study. 
THE DETERMINATION OF METHODS OF PREVENTING LOSSES. 
It is in the determination of methods of preventing losses and in their recommen- 
dations for practical application that the work of the forest entomologist presents 
some strikingly different features. Very few of the methods of combating forest and 
shade tree insects, and lessof those as applied to the farm and garden can be adopted 
for forest trees. Forests can not he sprayed, neither can they he treated with hydro- 
cyanic-acid gas, or lime, sulphur, and salt, or by any other of the many expensive 
methods which are practicable with trees under cultivation. Rotation of forest crops 
is out of the question, and it will he many years before clean culture and highforestry 
can he applied in this country, except on a limited scale in farmers' wood lots, and 
under specially favorable conditions in more extensive forests. 
