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C.O. 885

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competition with the Museum. They all desired to see the Museum, at all events for advice and reference, at the head of the whole subject, and they considered it important that the Museum should have the first call upon any collections that were made under the influence of this organisation. He mentioned the interest taken in the subject both at Cambridge and Oxford, and also at the Schools of Tropical Medicine in London and Liverpool.

Briefly, what they wanted to do was to place the whole matter on a somewhat broader basis, and to utilise all the resources at their disposal in this country. The question of money arose first, but he thought there would be no difficulty in getting a sum of £1,000 a year from Colonial sources, and they might get another £1,000 from Imperial Funds. That at any rate would be a beginning. Then there was a point on which he would be glad to have the views of the meeting, namely, the division of the £2,000 between work in this country and work in Africa, as in South Africa, and also in the Soudan, he believed very good work was being done already. He suggested that two experts might be appointed, as a preliminary, one for East Africa and one for West Africa, who could travel about from place to place, and utilise every agency which they could profitably employ in the areas respectively allotted. As regarded the matter on which the £1,000 (if that was the available sum) should be spent in this country, he preferred not to express any opinion, but to wait for the views of the meeting. The sum, of course, was not large, and no doubt it would require mature consideration to see how it could be best laid out in a manner advantageous to the scheme. What they chiefly desired to do was to see the matter placed on a national basis by the utilisation of the different agencies which existed at present.

Then came the question of a Committee of Management in this country. It had been suggested that as a provisional arrangement it might be possible to utilise the Committee of the Sleeping Sickness Bureau by adding two or three (or more if necessary) entomological authorities into the Bureau as it already existed. He thought it almost certain that it would not be long before the Sleeping Sickness Bureau became of even greater importance than it was at the present moment, by becoming a bureau for the study of tropical diseases in general, and if its scope were thus enlarged it had occurred to some of them that an entomological side would naturally be one of the most important sections of its work.

Then it would be necessary to secure the co-operation of the existing agencies in the Soudan and in South Africa. In that way the whole of their African possessions would be brought into harmonious co-operation. Although he thought it best at present to concentrate attention on Africa, he hoped that in time all the other Colonies affected would be brought in.

In conclusion, Lord Crewe said that his object had been to initiate discussion by the meeting, and he would, therefore, conclude his observations and invite further discussion to begin at once as he had only a few moments.

Mr. SHIPLEY, in regretting the absence of Professor Poulton through illness, remarked on the long distances from which some of those at the meeting had come in order to take part in the discussion of this subject. He said it was a most romantic subject, but that they wanted more observation. It had occurred to him that they might in some way bring together the existing organisations. At present collections of insects were reaching the British Museum, Cambridge, and Oxford. There was an immense amount of material throughout the country, but no machinery for deal- ing with it. It seemed to him that they might get some sort of Bureau to which they could send an animal or insect, and which could tell them what the animal or insect was. He thought the object of the Bureau should be to get correctly-named insects into the hands of the people who wished to study them.

He suggested that the work should come under two heads: work in the Colonies and work in England. Some competent entomologist might be sent to Uganda and another to Nigeria. In some places he would be able to get local help. Then there should be some organisation by which apparatus could be supplied by the Government. At present the local entomologists or doctors do not know to whom to write to get all the necessary entomological appliances. People on the spot would not only form collections, but study the habits of the insects. Of course, one of the objects of the travelling entomologist would be to interest the people of the country in the subject, and teach them, by showing them what really happened, what to avoid. They would expect people in the Colonies to collect species, and specimens would have to be sent home.

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Mr. Shipley mentioned the names of some gentlemen who he thought would le willing to help with the work, and he said that although they were only sugges tions, one or two had already promised. He wished to urge the point that results should be quickly published. There should be a bulletin so that as soon as an insect had become known, and had been described, it should be recorded in the bulletin.

(At this point Lord Crewe retired from the meeting.)

Continuing, Mr. Shipley said that he attached a good deal of importance to having some such journal.

Many of the details of the organisation must be left to the Colonial Office, but they would be glad to have suggestions.

Then there was the difficulty of paying the people in England. It would not do to pay for the identification of every insect.

Mr. Shipley said that any ideas he had on the subject were brought forward more from the point of view of Empire than from any particular laboratory or institution.

Dr. SHARP said that he would like to suggest, if there was going to be any publi- cation on the matter, that instead of the term "entomological," some wider word, or still better, the words "natural history" might be used. It would be undesirable to have the work hampered by the use of too small a title. On the whole he preferred 'natural history." He did not think it was necessary at present to say anything about the details because there was to be a Committee to manage it, and it would be Letter to leave the Committee to deal with such matters. He suggested to the meeting that they should settle some idea of the scope of the organisation, and also as to the disposal of the money. He thought the money should at first be expended in Africa. It was a matter of the greatest importance to get a good man in Africa, but if a proper Committee was to be appointed, it would be better to leave all details to the Committee. For the present, it would be best to determine on giving an opinion as how the Committee should be constituted. It was very important that there should be a sufficiently representative body of natural history upon it. He thought they would require five or six naturalists.

The Hon. N. C. ROTHSCHILD said that he had put down a few rough notes previous to the meeting, but Lefore dealing with them he hoped that they would permit him to make some remarks on one or two things that had been said.

With regard to the question of Colonial organisation, the suggestion of having travelling collectors was a good idea. An enormous amount could be dore provided they had sufficient friends abroad to help in the work. He mentioned that his large collection of blood-sucking insects had been made up entirely by a kind of corre- spondence in insects, and that he thought the post was an excellent medium for collectors. With regard to the remarks in connection with the English branch of the proposed institution, he did not think that any bureau such as exists at Lagos could be carried on for seeking out these insects. The whole question revolved round entomology. Before they knew what an insect was they could not move at all in the matter, and systematic entomology had been very much neglected. It required a good deal of training to be a good differentiator of species, and he did not think that any person abroad was a competent man to seek out these things unless he had had a systematic training.

Another point was the swift publication of results. He thought this would be extremely difficult, as the work required careful consideration.

Mr. Rothschild proceeded to say that Professor Shipley had suggested him as the examiner of fleas; he would, however, never dream of taking payment for any work he did.

He considered that a Central Reference Institution for the preservation of specimens was vital, and that without it no systematic research could be carried on. The Natural History Museum was singularly well fitted for the purpose, as they were always in correspondence with specialists.

There was another point which he wished to mention. If the Government wished to make a collection of fleas, they could not do so except through the medium of some institution which was in communication with mammalia and bird collectors. The collection of fleas at the Natural History Museum was a small one, but it was full of interesting things. His assistant was then working at the Museum and getting the collection into good order.

Professor CARPENTER Said that there were two or three points which he would