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No. 73.

COLONIAL OFFICE to INDIA OFFICE

1.

SIR,

Downing Street, 30 January, 1911. I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th of January,* transmitting a copy of a letter from the Under- Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Revenue and Agricul ture, and to request you to inform the Earl of Crewe that, in accordance with the' suggestion contained in the second paragraph of Mr. Holme's letter, two copies of the Bulletin of Entomological Research will in future be supplied free of charge, to be placed in the Government of India Press Room.

2. They will be forwarded to you from time to time for transmission to the proper quarter.

8023

No. 74.

I am, &c.,

G. V. FIDDES.

MINUTES OF THE FIFTH MEETING OF THE FINANCE SUB-COM- MITTEE OF THE TROPICAL AFRICAN ENTOMOLOGICAL RESEARCH COMMITTEE; HELD AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE ON FEBRUARY 23,

1911.

1. Minutest of the last meeting of the Finance Sub-Committee were approved. Arising out of the minutes, Mr. Marshall stated that he had been in communi- cation with the Stationery Office as to the publication of the Bulletin, and that he estimated that a reduction of 30 per cent. in the cost of printing might be effected if the matter were placed in the hands of the Stationery Office, although the question of type, &c., would need careful consideration. The Sub-Committee authorised Mr. Marshall to make arrangements with the Stationery Office for publishing the Bulletin, all details to be settled by him at his own discretion.

Mr. Marshall stated that he had been communicating with several foreign entomologists on the subject of identification of insects of the order Rhynchota for the Committee, all of whom had agreed to do the work merely in return for dupli- cates, with the exception of Dr. Montandon, of Bucharest, to whom a small payment would have to be made.

2. Mr. Marshall pointed out that it was desirable that the Committee should be in a position to secure the identification of any insects sent in by their correspon- dents, even though many of these might not appear to be of immediate economic importance. In this connection it was necessary to send out much material to specialists for determination, and the question as to the publication of the descrip- tions of new species, &c., required consideration. It was pointed out that to publish numerous purely systematic papers in the Committee's Bulletin would be both expensive and undesirable, but it was important that some satisfactory arrangement should be made to ensure the prompt publication of such papers. The Sub-Com- mittee was agreed that, as a matter of policy, it would be well to take steps to have such papers published somewhere. Various suggestions were made an appendix to the Bulletin, a special sheet (as wanted) paged separately, or a blue-book; but it was decided that the most satisfactory course would be to try to get other scientific journals to publish these papers. Mr. Marshall was, therefore, authorised to make enquiries of suitable scientific societies on the subject, and to report later the results of his enquiries, with special reference to the payment by the Committee of the whole or a portion of the cost of any illustrations required in connection with papers so published, and also of the cost of separate authors' copies, if necessary.

3. The question as to the terms on which process blocks belonging to the Com mittee should be lent for reproduction in other periodicals was discussed, with special reference to a request by the publishers of the Wellcome reports for the loan of certain blocks. Mr. Marshall stated that Mr. Wellcome's representatives were willing to pay one-third of the artist's charges and also the cost of making fresh clichés. This was approved by the Sub-Committee, and it was arranged that this

† No. 66. No. 68.

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should be the standard rate of payment in all cases in which a charge could reason- ably be made. It was agreed, however, that there would be certain cases in which blocks should be lent without payment, but, as no fixed rule could be made for them, the Scientific Secretary was given discretionary powers to deal with the question. A request by the Società Africana d'Italia for the loan of the block of Cordylobia prægrandis, Austen, was approved.

4.

An account for £10 8s., presented by Messrs. Fortnum and Mason in respect

of outfit for Mr. S. A. Neave, was passed.

5. A sum of £25 for petty cash was voted to the Scientific Secretary.

6. Mr. Marshall referred to a letter which he has received from Uganda, from which it appeared that the Government Entomologist, Mr. Gowdey, had not received copies of the Bulletin. Mr. Read promised to look into the matter.

9399

No. 75.

PRESS NOTICE.

With a view to furthering the work of the African Entomological Research Committee, Mr. Andrew Carnegie has been good enough to place at its disposal a sum of £1,000 a year for three years to defray the cost of sending a few suitably qualified young men to the United States to study the practical applications of entomology which have received so much attention in that country. Three of these Carnegie Scholars, as they are to be called, have been selected, and two of, them are already at work in the States. The fact that Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology at Washington, is personally interesting himself in the matter is a sufficient guarantee that all possible facilities will be given to the scholars, and it may be confidently expected that the scheme will be of great value to British administration in Africa and elsewhere by providing a body of well- trained entomologists available for employment in the services of the different Colonial Governments.

It may be mentioned that the Research Committee was appointed in June, 1909, by Lord Crewe, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies, with the object of promoting the study of the insects which play so prominent a part in the spread of disease among men, animals, and plants in Africa; that Lord Cromer is its President; and that it includes some of the most eminent authorities on entomology and tropical medicine in this country.

During the short period of the Committee's existence satisfactory progress has been made. The scheme has been energetically taken up by the African Colonies and Protectorates, and the large quantity of material already received at the Committee's Office in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington has very materially increased our knowledge of the insect pests of Africa. The collec- tions of insects, after being properly identified and recorded, are being distributed to the Schools of Tropical Medicine, Universities, Museums, or other institutions where they are likely to be of value for the purpose of teaching or scientific study. Two skilled entomologists are being employed under the direction of the Committee in East and West Africa respectively, for the purpose of interesting and instructing the local officials in the work, and also of carrying out special investigations.

The Committee has issued quarterly a scientific journal, entitled the " Bulletin of Entomological Research," of which the first volume is just completed. It contains many important articles by well-known authorities, and is obtaining a wide circula- tion.

Further particulars may be obtained from the Secretary of the Committee- Mr. Guy Marshall, British Museum (Natural History), South Kensington, London. Colonial Office,

9399

23rd February, 1911.

No. 76.

SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE EARL OF CROMER AT THE IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, LONDON, ON THE 2ND MARCH, 1911.

The sole justification for my presence here this afternoon is that, knowing nothing of entomology, I was, somewhat on the lucus a non lucendo principle, invited