PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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།།།་།་ mmimmimC.O. 885.
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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the Sub-Committee, should be invited to apply for scholarships. It was agreed that on receipt of applications from Mr. Corbett and Mr. Hargreaves, the Director might proceed in the matter without further reference to the Sub-Committee.
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No. 80.
MINUTES OF THE NINETEENTH GENERAL MEETING OF THE MANAG- ING COMMITTEE OF THE IMPERIAL BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, HELD AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE AT 12 NOON ON WEDNESDAY, 13TH MAY, 1914.
PRESENT:
Dr. SHIPLEY (Chairman).
Colonel ALCOCK.
Dr. BAGSHAWE.
Sir JOHN Bradford.
Dr. HARMER.
Professor LEFROY.
Sir JOHN MCCALL.
Dr. MacDougall.
Sir JOHN MCFADYEAN. Sir DANIEL MORRIS. Professor NEWSTEAD. Professor PoULTON. Sir DAVID PRAIN.
Mr. READ.
Mr. WARBURTON.
Mr. THEOBALD.
Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. NEAVE.
Mr. PARKINSON.
1. In the absence of the Earl of Cromer, who was prevented by illness from attending the meeting, Dr. Shipley took the Chair.
2. The minutes of the Eighteenth General Meeting were approved.
3. The quarterly report of the Director was received. Mr. Marshall com- mented briefly on the report, pointing out that the financial position of the Bureau was satisfactory, the balance standing to the credit of the Bureau at the 31st of March, 1914, being £1,949. He informed the Committee that the Finance Sub- Committee, which had met that morning, had (subject to the covering approval of the Committee) sanctioned the addition to the staff of the Bureau of a typist at 15s. a week and a boy at 12s. 6d. to 15s. a week, an increase in the payment for Russian translations from £2 to £2 5s. a week, and the renting and furnishing of another room in Elvaston Place, for the use of Mr. Neave. He further informed the Com- mittee that the Selection Sub-Committee, which had also met that morning, had recommended the appointment of Dr. Lamborn, Entomologist to the Government of Nigeria, as Travelling Entomologist in East Africa, and the allocation of Carnegie Scholarships to four gentlemen, Mr. Champion, Mr. Speyer, Mr. Corbett, and Mr. Hargreaves.
The Committee approved the action of the Finance and Selection Sub-Com- mittees, and concurred in a proposal submitted by the latter that, having regard to the outstanding importance of the Glossina problem, Dr. Lamborn should confine himself, for the present, to an investigation of practical means for eradicating these flies in British East Africa or Uganda.
4. Mr. Neave gave a brief account of his last tour in Nyasaland. It had been decided that he should visit Nyasaland, British East Africa, and Uganda in turn, staying for twelve months in each, but he had been unable to complete this pro- granime, owing to his return to England in February to take up the appointment of Assistant Director of the Bureau. From November, 1912, till February, 1914. he had been in Nyasaland, for the greater part of the time encamped near Mount Mlanje, but he had been able to make some expeditions-one to the Shire Valley and several minor ones into Portuguese East Africa. He had collected about
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80,000 specimens, of which 7,000 to 8,000 were biting organisins; and he had made a special point of predaceous insects taken with their prey, of which he had secured from 2,000 to 3,000, chiefly Asilida. Laboratory work on Tabanida had only been carried on since February, 1913, as there were unavoidable delays in getting the laboratory built.
The Tabanida season covered the period September to February. so that he had been somewhat handicapped in beginning this part of his work. He had, however, succeeded in breeding out 23 species from larvæ, and he had brought home 500 adult-bred Tabanidæ and about 600 preserved larvæ, after leaving a certain number with Dr. Davey, the Government Medical Officer at Mlanje. He hoped to write a full account of his work on these flies for the Bulletin.
Mr. Marshall reminded the Committee that extremely little was known as to the bionomics of the Tabanida, and he expressed the opinion that Mr. Neave's work in this direction would prove most valuable.
The Chairman thanked Mr. Neave, on behalf of the Committee, for the way in which he had carried out the mission entrusted to him in Nyasaland.
5. A report was presented by the Sub-Committee appointed to frame a pro- gramme for the proposed Conference of Dominion and Colonial Entomologists in the summer of 1915. (Copy annexed.) After some discussion the Committee arrived at the conclusion that the second half of July would be the best time for the Conference to be held. As to the place of meeting, Mr. Read thought that in any event the first meetings should be held at the Colonial Office or the Foreign Office, but that this was a natter which could be further considered when it was known what numbers would be likely to attend. In this connexion Professor Lefroy stated that he was authorised to inform the Committee that the authorities of the Royal College of Science would be pleased to provide a room in the College for the Con- ference. Sir Daniel Morris raised the question whether institutions in this country were to be invited to send delegates. It was pointed out that strictly this was an official Conference of the Dominion and Colonial Entomologists, but that it might be convenient to invite representatives of certain institutions. On Sir David Prain's suggestion it was agreed that at a later date the Committee should consider how far it was desirable that any institutions should be invited to send delegates, and that, if such a course were decided upon, the Board of Agriculture should be asked, through the usual official channels, to submit names of suitable persons to whom the invita- tion should be extended.
6. Professor Lefroy read a letter written to him by the Superintendent of the Indian Museum at the request of the Indian Government, indicating ways in which the Bureau could be of special assistance to the Museum. The Superintendent suggested that the Bureau could best help the Museum by publishing full abstracts of all Indian entomological literature, and undertaking the identification of all species of insects from India which the Museum could not identify in India.
The Committee approved of a reply being sent to the effect that, while anxious to assist the Museum in every way which their organisation permitted, they could not undertake either the publication of abstracts of all Indian entomological litera- ture or the identification of all species of Indian insects, as they must confine their attention to economic entomology; but that at the same time the Director would be glad to help the Museum to find specialists to identify particular species of insects as to which there might be difficulties.
Mr. Marshall explained that although the Bureau could not possibly under- take the work proposed, there was no reason to doubt that they could be of real assistance to the Indian Government and to the Departments which were concerned with economic entomology, and that there seemed to be no ground to fear that refusal to act on the suggestions put forward by the Museum would prejudice the Indian Government against the Bureau.
7. A proposal that the full Committee should only be called together twice instead of four times a year was submitted for consideration. It was pointed out that the organisation of the Bureau was now completed; that much of the work of the Committee was formal, inasmuch as the main business had to be entrusted to small Sub-Committees; and that it seemed hardly necessary for general meetings now to be held every quarter. It was agreed that in future the Committee should meet regularly twice a year, but that special meetings should be summoned whenever circumstances made it desirable to lay matters before the Committee without waiting for the next regular meeting.
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