Qa 
LEAVE OF ABSENCE FOR EMPLOYEES ENTERING THE MILITARY SERVICE, 
On August 23 the Comptroller rendered a decision regarding the 
leave with pay to which employees entering the military service are en- 
titled. This ruling is to the effect that annual leave with pay may be 
granted in accordance with the regulations of the Department, provided 
the combined amount of compensation received from this Department and from 
the War Department does not exceed an anount at the rate of tio thousand 
dollars per annum, If the comdined salary exceeds the rate indicated the 
payment of any compensation as an emzlcyee of the Department is prohibited 
by Section 6 of the act of May 10,1916. ay 
The compencation fixed for officers in training camps is not to 
exceed one hundred dollars per month. That amount is taken as the rate of 
compensation received by the employees of the Department while attending 
training camps. 
It will be noted that the effect of this decision and the law to 
which it refers is to make it impossible for the Department to grant leavé 
with pay to employees receiving salaries of more than eight hundred dollars 
per annum unless they enter branches of the service in which the compensa= 
tion is at a rate of less than one hundred dollars per month. 
A SUGGESTION FROM MR, FREDERICK KNAB, 
It is understood that quite a number of our younger men will be 
called to the colors and in this connection I have a suggestion. It is 
that such men be asked to deposit with the National Museum such collect- 
ions of insects as they may have, with the understanding that if they. do 
not return the material becomes the property of the museum. Such collect- 
ions would be with the the museum on safe-deposit and it ¢ould be made 
plain that such collections would bé inviolate until the return of the 
owner, or of definite news of his death, No doubt some of our men will 
have material that would be valueble and that will be lost unless some 
such arrangement as this I am suggesting is made. Some of the men may 
think thai their collections contain nothing of particular interest, but 
this is not so. Any collection is sure to cOéntain some things of parti- 
cular interest, and even the common species are often useful for data of 
distribution, local variation, etc. 
AUTHORS NAMES. 
In further reforence to my suggestions on the methods of report- 
ing the names and the use of author's names, I think that it would be well 
worth while to call the attention of all the division chiefs and other 
people who submit material for determination of the desirability of sup~ 
plying the author's name of the host of all species of parasites which they 
send in for determination. In my work in the Museum we are continually re- 
ceiving material from all sources stating that the parasites are parasitic 
on = then they give the name of the insect, but never the author's name . 
Many times these species turn out to be new and in describing them it is 
