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be paid the scholarship. It was agreed that it would be a sufficient safeguard for such certificates to be furnished quarterly, and Mr. Marshall was instructed to reply to the Crown Agents accordingly.

4. The question of making some communication to the Press was considered. Lord Cromer stated that in his opinion, it was desirable that this should be done. Mr. Read explained that he had had the matter under consideration with Mr. Marshall, and he promised to draft a notice to be submitted to Lord Cromer for his approval before publication.

5. The Committee discussed a letter* from the India Office which contained a suggestion that two copies of each part of the Bulletin should be supplied by the Committee free of charge, to be placed in the Government of India Press room for the information of the Indian public.

It was agreed that the suggestion should be adopted.

6. Sir Daniel Morris summarised his memorandumt on the extension of the Committee's work to Colonies other than those of tropical Africa, especially the West Indies. The memorandum is annexed to these Minutes.

It was generally agreed that the Committee should aim at extension; but it was pointed out by Colonel Prain that if the West Indies were now included, many other Colonies would, no doubt, wish to be included, especially those in the Far East and Fiji; and that it really resolved itself into a question of funds. Dr. Harmer reminded the Committee that they had refused to undertake the identification of Hong Kong flies, &c., on the ground that that Colony could not make any contribu- tion to the funds of the Committee. Dr. Shipley mentioned other Colonies, like Mauritius and the Seychelles, which were keenly interested in entomology. It was decided to recommend that a public despatch be sent to the Governors of Jamaica, British Honduras, British Guiana, Trinidad, and Barbados, the Windward and the Leeward Islands, with copies of the correspondence relating to the work of the Committee, and inviting the views of the Chief Medical Officers and the Directors of Agriculture as to the best means of organising local efforts to assist the Committee, so that at all events the principal injurious insects might be systematically studied and named, and remedial measures suggested; and further, that a copy of the correspondence be sent to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture, who should be invited to assist the Committee.

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7. The Committee received a despatch from the Acting Governor of Fiji on the subject of the introduction of a parasite for the purpose of destroying the borer pest which attacks the sugar-cane.

Sir Daniel Morris referred to similar experiments which had been tried in the West Indies, without success, in connection with the larvæ of beetles which live right inside the cane. Where, however, the insect can be conveniently attacked, success- ful spraying has been carried out, e.g., in Trinidad.

Annexure 1 to No. 72.

REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE. Since the last General Meeting of the Committee, the Finance Sub-Committee has met once.

It will be recollected that the Committee authorised Mr. Marshall to make enquiries as to candidates for the appointment of assistant to the Scientific Secre- tary, as the amount of work was rapidly becoming too great for him to cope with alone. A salary of £150 per annum was laid down as the maximum figure to be paid to the assistant. Mr. Marshall informed the Finance Sub-Committee that he had made enquiries and that Mr. H. Campion appeared to be the only suitable candi- date. Authority was, therefore, given for the engagement of Mr. Campion for a period of twelve months at a salary of £120 per annum.

An interesting proposal put forward by the Zoological Society for the systema- tic investigation of the arthropod parasites on the animals received in the Society's Gardens was brought up for consideration. The main question to be decided was whether or not such an investigation would be of value to the tropical African Colonies and Protectorates. The Sub-Committee felt that the investigation would, no doubt, be of value in itself, but that it could hardly be said that it would directly

↑ No. 70.

‡ No. 63.

• No. 68.

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benefit tropical Africa. Moreover, the Society wished the Committee to provide part of the wages of a youth (about £32) who would be engaged in collecting the parasites, and the parasites would be sent to Mr. Marshall, whose time would thus be taken up in determining them or making arrangements for their determination, when he might be doing other work of greater importance. In all the circumstances, the Sub-Committee felt that the Committee would hardly be justified at present in undertaking either the expenditure or the work involved by the proposed investiga- tion, seeing how much there is to be done in more definitely utilitarian directions, and it is recommended that the matter should be deferred for the present, and brought up again at a later date, if necessary.

The expenditure incurred in the production of the Bulletin was discussed. Mr. Marshall referred to the fact that an expenditure of £360 was originally authorised for the first volume. The fourth, and last, part of the first volume, however, contains certain maps and illustrations, which are necessarily costly; and in the circum- stances the Sub-Committee felt justified in approving of the limit of £360 being somewhat exceeded if it should prove impossible to keep within that figure.

Annexure 2 to No. 72.

REPORT OF THE SCIENTIFIC SECRETARY FOR THE QUARTER ENDING 31ST DECEMBER, 1910.

At the last meeting of the General Committee reference was made to the need for further office accommodation owing to the growth of the Comittee's organisation, and it is a pleasure to report that when the matter was brought to the notice of the authorities at the British Museum, they readily met all our requirements in this respect without delay. Two commodious rooms, with the necessary furniture and fittings, have been placed at the disposal of the Committee (on the understanding, of course, that they would be vacated if urgently needed for Museum purposes), and this increased space has much facilitated our work. In all other matters also the staff of the Museum have continued to co-operate with us most cordially.

In accordance with the authority granted by the Committee at our last meeting,

a new assistant has been engaged in the person of Mr. Herbert Campion, who com- Lines the needful clerical qualifications with a strong interest in entomology. Unfortunately he was unable to take up his duties until the 16th of the present month (January, 1911); but it is hoped that with his help it may shortly be possible to clear off the many arrears of work which have been unavoidably accumulating.

During the quarter under review collections have been sent in by 23 different contributors, comprising some 13,800 arthropods; of these about 2,800 are biting flies, and there are over 2,200 ticks, making more than 5,000 blood-sucking arthro- pods in all. It has been possible to determine and record only a portion of this material up to the present. It may be mentioned that, in the case of biting flies, a list of species is being made on the card-catalogue system, and a record is kept for cach species of the number of specimens received, together with every locality, date, collector's name, and any notes attached to the specimens. As this will be done for all the material passing through our hands, a mass of valuable information will thus be gradually accumulated.

There has been as yet no opportunity of making a proper distribution of named specimens to the various institutions selected for the purpose, but small preliminary collections have been presented to the London and Liverpool Schools of Tropical Medicine and to Edinburgh University. Even this was only rendered possible by the fact that Colonel Alcock, Professor Newstead, and Dr. MacDougall themselves kindly assisted in the work of selecting, labelling, and enumerating the specimens which they needed. But it is hoped that it may be possible to despatch further consignments to these and other institutions before very long. It is proposed to keep a special register of all such distributions, arranged under the names of the various species. Special forms are being printed for the purpose, and at future meetings the register will be laid upon the table for the information of the Committee.

Small lots of named biting flies have also been sent to a few medical officers in Africa who have applied for them, namely, to Drs. J. B. Davey, A. H. Barclay, and II. S. Stannus, in Nyasaland; and to Drs. A. G. F. Mayer and W. S. Clark, in Southern Nigeria. Sets are also being prepared for Drs. B. Moiser, A. Ingram, and A. W. Scott Macfie in Northern Nigeria. Contributors are always being encouraged

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