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3. With reference to the instructions to be issued by the Scientific Secretary as regards the collection, preservation, and transmission of material, it was resolved to ask the Honourable N. C. Rothschild, Mr. Austen, and Mr. Marshall to kindly act on behalf of Sub-Committee B as well as Sub-Committee A in considering the steps to be taken.

4. In discussing the steps to be taken to initiate the observing and collecting of plant pests in Tropical Africa, the line adopted by Sub-Committee A was fol- lowed, Mr. Marshall intimating his own readiness to help as far as circumstances would permit and Mr. Austen repeating that he, too, would be willing to lend his services if some official arrangement could be arrived at through the Trustees of the British Museum.

It was resolved that Oxford, Cambridge, and the British Museums and any other suitable authority or authorities be asked to give instruction in the mounting and preparation and care of natural history specimens as collected in the tropics.

5. The Chairman thonght that the Scientific Secretary, in entering into corres- pondence with resident entomologists or others in the various African colonies with regard to the objects of the Committee, should, at any rate at first, confine his communication to official entomologists and be guided by their knowledge and advice in extending his correspondence and devising means of encouragement. He emphasised the desirability of making the Committee's entomologist the official channel for transmitting all specimens, and favoured the adoption of a plan by which all specimens sent home through him should travel free of cost to the sender. Mr. Read suggested that official status should be given to the Scientific Secretary by means of a circular despatch to the colonies and protectorates concerned; and that, after this introduction, correspondence could be carried on privately between him and local officials. Mr. Austen wished for a report on plant diseases and the insects suspected of being the cause (together with specimens) to be sent from the official entomologists in East and West Africa through the Colonial Office. A resolution in the following terms was then carried:-

The Sub-Committee begs to suggest that a circular letter be sent by the Colonial Office in the first instance to Government entomologists in the various colonies and protectorates in Tropical Africa, asking for a report on the diseases of plants and crops within their respective districts believed to be of insect origin, such reports to be accompanied by specimens of the insects suspected in each case.

6. The recommendation of Sub-Committee A with regard to authorising the Scientific Secretary to expend a sum not exceeding £50 on the material necessary for carrying out his duties was concurred in.

7. It was resolved that three members of the Sub-Committee should form a quorum.

8. It was resolved that the hour of meetings of the Sub-Committee be fixed at 3 p.m.

The meeting adjourned at 12.55 p.m.

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No. 22.

LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

SIR,

(Received 10 Angust, 1909.)

B 10, Exchange Buildings, Liverpool, 9th August, 1909. WITH reference to your letter of the 5th instant,* I have the honour to inform you that the Committee of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine will be glad to make the necessary arrangements for instruction to be given at the School to a limited number of officials in the service of the British Colonies of West and East Africa, on the mounting and preparation and care of entomological specimens.

As the staff of the School are absent on vacation, I am not able to state pre- cisely at present what these arrangements will be.

I am, &c.,

26761

No. 23.

A. H. MILNE.

Secretary.

LONDON SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received 10 August, 1909.)

SIR,

Dreadnought Hospital, Greenwich, S.E., 9th August, 1909.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 5th inst.* and to inform you that the London School of Tropical Medicine is very willing to co-operate with the Entomological Research Committee by making arrangements for the instruction of a limited number of officials in methods of mounting and preparing specimens.

The Arthropodological Laboratory at the School is now in course of enlarge- ment, and by the 1st of October the facilities for instruction will be much increased. Colonel A. Alcock, I.M.S., the Arthropodologist at the School, has had pro- longed experience in the collection, preparation, and conservation of specimens in the Tropics, and for many years directed zoological surveys both of a purely scientific and of an economic character in India.

It may be of interest to the Colonial Office to be informed that for the last two years a demonstration of the methods of mounting insects, and instruction in ways of preserving and packing specimens, has formed part of the ordinary curriculum at the School.

21848

No. 24.

I am, &c.,

P. MICHELLI,

Secretary.

25287

No. 21.

COLONIAL OFFICE to BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY).

Downing Street, 5 August, 1909.

*

SIR,

I AM directed by the Earl of Crewe to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th of July, and to request that you will convey to the Trustees of the British Museum his Lordship's appreciation of the readiness with which they have agreed to co-operate with the Colonial Office in the work which the Entomological Research Committee is undertaking.

I am, &c.,

• No. 18.

FRANCIS J. S. HOPWOOD.

SIR,

COLONIAL OFFICE to MR. S. A. NEAVE. [Answered by No. 25.]

Downing Street, 14 August, 1909.

I AM directed by the Earl of Crewe to inform you that he proposes to select you for the appointment of entomological expert in the East African Protectorates for a period of four years, with salary at the rate of £500 a year and free quarters or an allowance in lieu thereof.

2. It is understood that the Scientific Secretary of the African Entomological Research Committee has given you full particulars of the work on which you would he employed.

3. In the event of your accepting the appointment you would be required to serve for 20 months in East Africa, at the end of which period you would be entitled to four months' leave. During the first three months of this leave full salary would be paid to you and three-quarters the salary during the remaining period.

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4. You would also be entitled to free first-class passages to and from East *Africa, and to reasonable travelling expenses in the Protectorates.

5. You would be granted half salary from the date of your embarkation from this country to take up your appointment, and full salary from the date of your arrival in East Africa.

6. In the event of your being invalided before the completion of a tour of service, you would be granted sick leave with full pay at the rate of six days for each completed month of residential service, and such further extension as might be necessary, with three-quarters pay, up to a total of four months, after which the rate of pay would be at the discretion of the Secretary of State.

7. I am to enquire whether you are prepared to accept the appointment on the foregoing terms. In the event of your doing so, it is understood that you would probably not be able to leave this country before the 1st of January next, but Lord Crewe trusts that you would find it possible to embark at a somewhat earlier date.

27694

SIR,

No. 25.

I am,

&c.,

H. W. JUST.

MR. S. A. NEAVE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received 18 August, 1909.)

3, Blackhall Road, Oxford, 17th August, 1909.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th

instant.*

I am prepared to accept the appointment of entomological expert to the East Africa Protectorates upon the terms mentioned therein.

I note that it is the wish of Lord Crewe that I should leave England as much as possible before January 1st next. I will endeavour to comply with this, but I do not at present see much prospect of being able to anticipate that date very

much.

28507

SIR,

No. 26.

I am, &c.,

SHEFFIELD A NEAVE

BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY) to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received 25 August, .1909.)

British Museum (Natural History),

Cromwell Road, London, S.W., 24th August, 1909. In reply to Sir Francis Hopwood's letter of the 5th instant,f I am directed to state that the Trustees of the British Museum will be prepared to make arrange- ments, as far as possible, for instruction to be given to a limited number of officials in the service of the British Colonies in West and East Africa in the mounting, the preparation, and the care of entomological specimens.

It would facilitate these arrangements if the officials in question would in the first instance communicate with Dr. S. F. Harmer, the Keeper of the Department of Zoology.

I am, &c.,

L. FLETCHER.

• No. 24,

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No. 27.

NOTICE TO THE PRESS.

ENTOMOLOGICAL RESEARCH,

In view of the intimate relation which is recognised as existing between certain insects and the propagation of diseases of both man and animals in Tropical Africa, and of the similar relation between insects and economic plants which is becoming more evident as settlement in the continent progresses, the Earl of Crewe has appointed a Scientific Committee, whose object it will be to further the study of economic entomology with special reference to Africa.

This body will be known as the African Entomological Research Committee; and the Earl of Cromer has kindly consented to act as Chairman. The other members of the Committee are:-

Colonel A. Alcock, C.I.E., F.R.S., of the London School of Tropical

Medicine.

Mr. E. E. Austen, of the Natural History Museum.

Dr. A. G. Bagshawe, Director of the Sleeping Sickness Bureau.

Dr. J. Rose Bradford, F.R.S., Secretary of the Royal Society.

Colonel Sir David Bruce, C.B., F.R.S.

Dr. S. F. Harmer, F.R.S., Keeper of Zoology, British Museum (Natural

History).

Dr. R. Stewart MacDougall, Entomological Adviser to the Board of

Agriculture.

Sir John Macfadyean, Royal Veterinary College.

Sir Patrick Manson, K.C.M.G., F.R.S.

Mr. R. Newstead, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

Dr. G. F. Nuttall, F.R.S., Quick Professor of Biology, Cambridge

University.

Professor E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., Hope Professor of Zoology, Oxford. Lieutenant-Colonel D. Prain, C.I.E., F.R.S., Director of the Royal Botanic

Gardens, Kew.

Mr. H. J. Read, C.M.G., representing the Colonial Office.

The Hon. N. C. Rothschild."

Dr. D. Sharp, F.R.S.

Dr. A. E. Shipley, F.R.S., Cambridge University.

Mr. S. Stockman, Chief Veterinary Officer to the Board of Agriculture. Mr. F. V. Theobald, of the Agricultural College, Wye, and

Mr. C. Warburton, Cambridge University.

Mr. A. C. C. Parkinson, of the Colonial Office, is acting as Secretary to the Committee, and Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall as Scientific Secretary. Arrangements are now being made to despatch a trained entomologist to the east side of Tropical Africa and another to the west for the purpose of stimulating official and other residents to collect and observe noxious insects, and of affording in- struction in the use of scientific methods. By this means it is hoped to obtain through- out these territories an organised body of investigators who will communicate all their collections and observations to the Committee. These collections will be classified by a number of British and, in some instances, Continental entomologists, and named specimens will be distributed to such institutions as may require them for purposes of instruction, both at home and in Africa. The Committee will also keep in touch with the work which is being done in this branch of science in Egypt and the Soudan and in South Africa. The scientific results, including all observa- tions and experiments made by the collectors, will be published from time to time in a journal or bulletin to be issued by the Committee. It is hoped that by such organ- ised co-operation the knowledge of these matters will be materially increased, so as to render possible the application of effective remedial measures. Offers of cordial assistance have been received from such institutions as the British Museum (Natural History), the London and Liverpool Schools of Tropical Medicine, and the leading Universities, in all of which valuable work has already been done in the same direction.

Colonial Office,

25th August, 1909.

*