February, ’18] 
ENTOMOLOGISTS’ DISCUSSIONS 
103 
sought advice on this momentous subject. They will not go into this 
service that we all deem so important unless they can be made to feel 
in some official way that it is a real service that they are called upon to 
do for their country. -I know of a number of cases of men who could 
have been assigned to entomological work but would not accept it as 
they preferred active military service, feeling that doing anything else 
was not fulfilling their entire patriotic duty to the country. It seems 
to me we ought to consider this matter. 
Mr. T. J. Headlee: The War Department has commissioned two 
of our mosquito men as first lieutenants in the sanitary corp. One, 
Mr. Russell W. Gies, is now located at Camp Pike, Little Rock, Arkansas, 
and the other, Mr. Jesse B. Leslie, is stationed at Camp McClellan, 
Anniston, Alabama. They are engaged in mosquito work. I am 
convinced by a personal investigation of the situation at Washington, 
that the condition which prevents the utilization of the economic en¬ 
tomologist in the preservation of army health and comfort is a notion 
entertained by persons in charge of such matters, that he can contribute 
nothing worth while to that end. It appears to be the impression that 
the economic entomologist is a person interested primarily in the 
number of spots in the mosquito’s wing or the number of spines upon 
the flea’s foot and that his information is of a type that could not be 
put to practical use. Until this impression is removed and the true 
state of the case made clear, it is not to be expected that the economic 
entomologist will have a chance to do his professional bit in the army 
of the United States. The suggestion made by our Secretary is directly 
to the point. This Association should go on record in the form of a 
resolution or a set of resolutions in which the ability of the economic 
entomologist to perform a real service in connection with the military 
establishment will be set forth. Further than this, it should provide 
a medium through which its action may be made clearly understood 
by the persons in charge of army sanitation and health. 
Mr. W. C. O’Kane: It seems to me that we are surely united on 
two or three propositions. Professor Osborn has properly said that 
the first of all is the matter of service. As an association and as indi¬ 
vidual members we surely propose to do that which will be of greatest 
value so far as we are permitted to do so, whether it be in the infantry 
or in entomological work. Second, I am sure that we agree with Dr. 
Felt that the situation in regard to camps and trenches is serious. 
Third, I am sure we agree that the trained entomologist can render 
very genuine service. I am not sure that we shall get very far by 
depending upon the various local boards of review. I wish I did think 
so, but each of these boards is, in a sense, on the defensive. There are 
many men coming to them who wish to do special work, and some of 
