REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST IQI17 I5 
Owing to the pressure of work incident to conducting the Insect 
Pest Survey and Information Service, a large amount of labor 
was necessarily devoted to the identification of numerous specimens 
and as a consequence it was impossible to give the usual amount of 
time to the very desirable and really necessary work of classifying 
and arranging specimens already in the state collections. Numerous 
microscopic preparations of smaller insects have been made and 
incorporated in the collections as in earlier years. 
The work upon exotic Itonididae referred to above has resulted 
in adding a number of types, both generic and specific, to an already 
very large collection. A unique addition was that of Mr Howard 
Notman of Keene Valley and Brooklyn, who generously donated a 
collection of 648 admirably mounted specimens taken at Keene 
Valley, a locality where comparatively little collecting has been done 
in this group. Attention should also be called to the bees kindly 
donated by Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell of Boulder, Col., and to the 
African insects secured by exchange with Prof. H. T. Fernald of 
Amherst, Mass. Other acquisitions are listed under Additions to 
Collections. 
The constantly increasing specimens have filled the boxes or 
trays to such an extent that there is urgent need of more space 
for this material. The wooden cases containing the insect collec- 
tions should be replaced by steel cabinets and more provided to 
accommodate the additional boxes and trays required. No adequate 
provision has as yet been made for the constantly increasing biological 
material, which is also true of the large number of microscopic 
slides, many of them containing types of species and genera and 
therefore unique. A metallic filing case for the collection of negatives 
and photographs illustrating insects or their work is also greatly 
needed. 
Earlier estimates indicate a native fauna of approximately 20,000 
species which means fully 100,000 specimens if we are to have only 
one representative of each sex and of each of the three other stages, 
namely egg, larva and pupa, to say nothing of specimens illustrating 
work and habitat. Many species should be represented by series 
illustrating variations and habits. A state collection should possess 
all these if it is to take its proper place in the exposition of our natural 
resources. Much has been accomplished through the natural history 
survey work summarized in the preceding report, though very much 
still awaits the competent investigator. The urgency of the immedi- 
ately practical should not eliminate research, since progress is possible 
only through the latter. This is true not only of the development of 
