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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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specimens received is less than during the two preceding years, yet the number of correspondents who have sent us material and the specific identifications sent out are both higher than for any previous year. In the following details the corresponding figures for the preceding year are given in brackets for comparison.
The collections received totalled 323 (312), and these were sent in by 127 (121) different correspondents, distributed as follows:-Africa, 45; Asia, 36; Europe, 17; Australasia, 16; Tropical America, 13. The collections contained 45,600 (56,000) specimens, of which 3,300 (11,600) were blood-suckers. During the year 233 (196) lists of identifications were issued, comprising 7,642 (6,268) specific names.
Of named blood-sucking insects or species of agricultural importance 7,600 (2,400) specimens were presented to the following institutions:-Aberdeen University; Department of Agriculture, Mauritius; Dominion Entomological Branch, Ottawa, Canada; Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; London School of Tropical Medicine; Royal Army Medical Corps South Tidworth, Hants; Tokio University; University College of South Wales; and Victoria University, Man- chester. The insects presented to the British Museum numbered 15,800 (16,150), ọf which 128 (181) were types of species new to science, and among the remainder were 595 (453) named species not previously represented in the Museum collection.
Review of Applied Entomology. The number of abstracts published was almost the same as in the preceding year, namely, 2,439 (2,471), occupying 804 (864) pages. The usual small annual increase in the number of subscribers has been main- tained, and the sales of Series A, which have been slowly gaining for several years on those of Series B, have now exceeded them. The numbers of volumes sold were, Series A, 299 (288) and Series B, 297 (291). There has been a slight proportionate increase in the total net sales, which amount to £341 46. 4d. (£333 18s. Id.). The receipts for advertisements were £74 78. 6d., as compared with £73 11s. Od. for the previous year.
Sundry Publications. Sixteen papers have been published in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, dealing mainly with non-economic insects sent in to the Bureau for identification:-Two by Mr. G. E. Bryant (Phytophagous Beetles), one by Professor T. D. A. Cockerell (Bees), three by Mr. J. R. Malloch (Anthomyiid Flies), six by Mr. B. P. Uvarov (Grasshoppers), and four by the Director (Weevils). The agreed contribution towards the cost of printing and illustrating these papers paid to Messrs. Taylor & Francis, amounted to £77 188. Od.
The book on tsetse-flies, prepared by Major E. E. Austen and Mr. E. Hegh, has continued to sell fairly satisfactorily, yielding a net sum of £22 128. 9d. during the year.
The present position with regard to this publication is that the total cost of production was £285 88. 4d., and the net sales to the end of last financial year amounted to £118 38. 9d. We have about 500 copies still in stock,
Library. The steady growth of our library has made it necessary to rearrange the available accommodation at 41, Queen's Gate. Hitherto we had used only one room on the topmost of our three floors, but now we have to occupy the whole of this floor. This change involves the moving to another floor of nearly all the books and the purchase of some additional furniture and linoleum, as well as an alteration in the arrangement of the electric lighting. It is estimated that the total cost of this will amount to about £100. The library will now occupy the whole of the second floor, which will afford plenty of room for expansion, and will provide improved reading- room accommodation for visitors.
Accessions to the library include 454 bound volumes and over 1,500 pamphlets, bringing the totals up to 3,674 and over 6,500 respectively. Some 870 (850) serial publications are now received regularly, the great majority of these being in exchange for the publications of the Bureau.
The typewritten lists of the serials and of the monographs have been revised and brought up to date during the year, and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to the general catalogue of serials, especially in connexion with Russian periodicals. Steady progress has also been made with the card index, under authors' names, of the entomological papers contained in the serial journals, about half the volumes in the library having been dealt with in this way.
Requests for the loan of books and pamphlets have not been very numerous in the past, but they appear to be steadily increasing; the loans during the year amounted to 317, as compared with 227 in the previous year. The following insti- tutions, among others, made use of the library in this way :-The Forestry Commis- sion, the Tropical Diseases Bureau, the Natural History Museum, the Wellcome
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Bureau of Scientific Research, and the Agricultural Colleges of Wye and Cirencester.
Export of Parasites. In accordance with the decision of the Committee at their last meeting, arrangements have been made to place Mr. G. M. Altson, who has done all our parasite work at Rothamsted, on the permanent staff of the Bureau. After consultation with the Chairman of the Finance Sub-Committee, Sir Sidney Harmer, it was decided that his salary should be that of a Junior Assistant, the grade being £250-£20-£290-25-£450 substantive salary, starting at £250, with £119 cost of living bonus from the 1st April, 1924.
The export of parasites of the Pear Sawfly to New Zealand has unfortunately not proved very successful, because they arrived there too late for the sawflies, and had to be carried over the winter in cool storage, with the result that only two or three specimens emerged in the spring.
In the case of the earwigs we have been much more successful, in spite of the great technical difficulties in breeding the Tachinid flies in captivity. Last autumn some 1,400 living earwigs were shipped to New Zealand, a large proportion of which were parasitised by a fly of the genus Rhacodineura. From these, 85 flies were bred out in Nelson, and they have now been carried through to the third generation. Some of the flies have been released, and 100 pupae have been retained in the laboratory to carry the species over the winter. The other fly, Digonochata, did not prove very satisfactory at first, owing to the difficulty in getting them to pair in captivity. We sent out another 300 pupae in cool storage last November, and Dr. Tillyard reports that they have done better with these and have secured from them sufficient progeny to give a fair stock of pupa to carry over the winter. There seems, therefore, to be a very favourable prospect for the permanent establishment of these two parasites.
The tsetse fly parasite, Syntomosphyrum, has proved enormously prolific at Rothamsted, and thousands have had to be killed because they could not be used. Over 5,800 blowfly pupae have been submitted to parasitism and shipped out to Nigeria during the past six months, and the number has merely been limited by the fact that we have had only one man to deal with them. With ordinary' luck these pupae might produce anything from 20,000 to 50,000 parasites. In the first package all the insects were killed owing to improper treatment in the train from Lagos up- country. Since then Dr. Lloyd has acknowledged the receipt of two parcels by post and two in cool storage. At the time he wrote a few Chalcids had emerged from the former lots, but none from the cooled packages. For the present no more of these insects are being bred at Rothamsted.
A report by Mr. Altson on the work done at Rothamsted will be found in Appendix I.
Tsetse Investigations. Mr. R. H. Harris, Tsetse Investigator in Zululand, has recently been in England on leave, and representations were made to the Union Government (through Mr. Lounsbury) as to the desirability of giving him the oppor- tunity of taking a short course at the London School of Tropical Medicine. Extra leave was promptly granted to Mr. Harris for this purpose, but as there seemed to be some difficulty with regard to the payment of the requisite fees, the Glossina Sub-Committee agreed to make a grant not exceeding £20 for this purpose. Actually, owing to the generous arrangements made by the London School, the fees for the training of both Mr. Harris and his wife did not amount to more than £6.
For the information of the Glossina Sub-Committee Mr. Harris was asked to submit a statement* as to the line of work that he thought it desirable to undertake on his return to Zululand. This statement was considered by the Sub-Committee, and they have made a recommendation with regard to it which will be dealt with elsewhere.
It will be remembered that last year a grant of £70 was made to Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton to enable him to visit certain other Tsetse Investigators in South-East 'Africa. As a result of this he stayed some time with Mr. Harris in Zululand, and also examined some of the northern fly-belts in Southern Rhodesia in company with Mr. R. W. Jack; but he was unable to find time to visit Dr. Lamborn. Owing to heavy pressure of work on his return to Tanganyika, followed by serious illness, he has not yet been able to send in an official report on his tour.
Mr. Swynnerton has already made a start with his arrangements for an organized attack on isolated blocks of tsetse-infested bush at Shinyanga,
* Annexure to No. 59.