February, ’20] 
BUSINESS PROCEEDINGS 
25 
ENTOMOLOGY IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 
The day has long passed when American scientific activities could be restricted to 
a narrow field. Whether we regard economic needs or intellectual development, we 
find ourselves compelled to consider the whole range of science limited only by our 
resources and the powers of the human mind. In the field of entomology this involves, 
among other things, access to adequate collections of insects, including not only those 
found in North America, but the species of the whole world. The leading European 
countries have long appreciated such needs, and have built up collections to which 
Americans have to make pilgrimages when engaged in comprehensive studies of 
insect groups. There is no reason why we should not possess facilities for work at 
least equal to those of any other country. We have the greatest resources of any 
nation at the present time, and certainly are not lacking in the ability to carry on 
the work. 
The species of insects are far more numerous than those of any other groups of 
animals; in fact the described forms exceed those of all other groups combined. 
Very many of them are of supreme importance and interest to man, as destroyers of 
our crops, as carriers of the germs of disease, as enemies of injurious forms, or as 
sources of some of our most important economic products. All know the value of 
the silkworm or honey bee, but few realize the services of the host of parasitic insects, 
which keeps down the enemies of our crops, and without which agriculture would be 
impossible. All are aware that numerous insects are injurious to plants, but com¬ 
paratively few know that many of the most harmful have been introduced from abroad. 
The greatest danger of our crops, or even to our health, may arise from insects 
accidentally brought from foreign countries through the operations of commerce. 
The San Jose scale came from Asia, the cottony cushion scale from Australia. The 
gypsy moth, which has cost this country hundreds of thousands of dollars, is European. 
The cotton boll weevil, even more to be dreaded, invaded the United States from 
Mexico and Central America. For urgent practical reasons, therefore, as well as in 
order to complete and organize our knowledge we need to know the insects of all 
countries, and to have them represented in at least one American collection. This 
obvious requirement cannot be met without Congressional aid. The National 
Museum, under present conditions, cannot possibly develop an adequate policy of 
entomological development. The two prime obstacles are lack of sufficient curators 
and lack of space. The present force, even with the great aid afforded by the mem¬ 
bers of the Bureau of Entomology, cannot arrange and classify the collections already 
on hand, inadequate as some of these are. Some of the men work overtime and on 
holidays, while help is sometimes obtained from those not officially connected with 
the Museum, but all these activities lamentably fail to cover the whole field. The 
Museum should have enough expert curators to keep classified and in order every 
group of insects, and to furnish identifications and other aid to economic entomolo¬ 
gists and other workers in every state. Should the curatorial force be supplied, 
however, they would be helpless in the present crowded condition of the department. 
There is hardly room to move around, and almost no space for new cabinets. The 
only way out seems to be through the erection of a new building of suitable size; 
fireproof, but not necessarily of any great architectural pretensions. 
Granting the building and the curators, with suitable rules and arrangements to 
ensure the proper care of all the collections, what more should be demanded? Un¬ 
doubtedly collectors and students would present or bequeath their materials on a 
scale previously unheard of, because of the great services they had received from the 
Museum and their confidence in it as a repository of types and the priceless speci¬ 
mens. This, however, would not suffice. Funds should be available for explora- 
