112 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 13 
Morning Session, Thursday, January 1,1920,10.15 a. m. 
President W. C. O’Kane: The chair desires to wish all of you 
a Very Happy New Year. 
The first paper on the program is “The Work of the Railroad Ento¬ 
mologist,” by V. I. Safro. 
THE WORK OF THE RAILROAD ENTOMOLOGIST 
By V. I. Safro, Louisville, Ky. 
With the development of railroad agricultural departments, the 
need for railroad entomologists is coming more and more into evidence 
and it will be but a matter of a few years before every large railroad 
will have its entomological officials. There is a definite field in the 
agricultural and commercial activities of a large railroad which would 
come naturally under the jurisdiction of the entomologist—work 
which now is either entirely neglected or to a great extent imperfectly 
conducted. The intent of this article is to indicate to prospective 
railroad entomologists the lines of work that should come under their 
attention, and, incidentally, to crystallize for railroad agriculturists 
the duties that definitely necessitate the employment of entomologists. 
The writer has based his discussion upon considerable work done 
for and with railroads, upon some five years of frequent contact with 
railroad entomologists, horticulturists, agriculturists, and their prob¬ 
lems, and upon many excellent opportunities to observe the need of 
such work as is here indicated. 
The occurrence and solution of certain entomological problems has 
been noticed from time to time in its most evident form; namely, the 
reduction of tonnage due to insect damage to crops. And whereas 
this is by no means the only line of endeavor for the railroad ento¬ 
mologist, it is the one line that the average railroad official can under¬ 
stand without the exhaustive explanation that may be necessary to 
justify the appointment of an entomologist for the solution of other 
entomological problems affecting railroad economics. 
In instances that have come before the writer, the solution of any 
one of many of these common tonnage problems would of itself have 
paid the salary of the entomologist several times over and given a 
handsome profit to the railroad, and this is what the railroad official 
in authority will most easily understand. 
Possibilities of Increased Tonnage 
The writer has at hand a letter received some time ago from J. A. 
Hughes, horticulturist, American Refrigerator Transit Co., Missouri 
Pacific Railroad. He states: 
