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5. Mr Marshall read a letter which he had received from Mr. C. P. Lounsbury, suggesting a systematic enquiry into the distribution of the red-winged locust and the migratory locust birds in Tropical East Africa. It was decided after a brief discussion that it was not a matter for the Committee, but should be arranged locally Mr. Read said that steps could be taken to bring between South and East Africa. the suggestion to the notice of the East African Protectorates.

6. Mr. Marshall read a letter from Dr. Calvert, Pennsylvania University, which raised the question whether named specimens of blood-sucking flies should be Lord Cromer said it was really all a distributed to institutions other than British. matter of adding to the Scientific Secretary's work, but that, bearing in mind Mr. Carnegie's donation, he would certainly be inclined to send specimens to Pennsyl- vania University. The principle was then agreed to, and the particular requests from Pennsylvania and Utah Universities were approved; but it was left to the discretion of the Scientific Secretary to deal with any future applications.

7. A report was received from the Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies.

Annexure 1 to No. 79.

REPORT OF THE Chairman of thE FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE.

A meeting of the Sub-Committee was held in February last to consider certain matters of detail raised by the Scientific Secretary.

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 corres- pondents, 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 expen- sive 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 Various suggestions were made--an appendix such papers published somewhere.

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 Mr. Marshall was, therefore, authorised to make journals to publish these papers. 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.

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 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, A request Mr. Marshall was given discretionary powers to deal with the question. by the Società Africana d'Italia for the loan of the block of Cordylobia prægrandis, Austen, was approved.

As the result of enquiries instituted at the suggestion of the Sub-Committee, Mr. Marshall stated that he estimated a possible reduction of 30 per cent. in the cost of printing if the matter were placed in the hands of the Stationery Office, although The Sub-Committee the question of type, &c., would need careful consideration. authorised Mr. Marshall to make arrangements with the Stationery Office for the publication of the Bulletin, all details to be settled at his discretion.

Annexure 2 to No. 79.

Report of the SCIENTIFIC SECRETARY FOR THE QUARTER ENDING 31ST MARCH, 1911. During the quarter under consideration the collections sent in by our corres- pondents show a decided increase as compared with the previous quarter, the number

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of specimens received amounting to 15,700. Among these there were about 6,000 biting flies and nearly 800 ticks, the number of biting flies being much larger than that for any previous quarter.

The number of contributors also shows a satisfactory increase, consignments having been sent in by 31 different collectors as compared with 23 and 20 in the two previous quarters, respectively. Although the great majority of these men are, and will remain, merely collectors, there is among them a quite encouraging percentage who take a really intelligent interest in the problems connected with disease-trans- mitting insects. It is sincerely to be, hoped that when special expeditions are organised for investigating these problems, such local men will be given a fair chance of participating in the work.

The work of identifying the blood-sucking insects sent in by various medical officers has been kept fairly well up to date, and when such lists are issued a copy is always sent to the Principal Medical Officer of the Colony concerned. But, owing to the considerable influx of material, the task of entering up all records of localities and other data is still very much in arrear, and until this has been done the speci- mens are not available for distribution. It has, however, been possible to distribute a certain amount of material, as may be gathered from the register now exhibited, though the lists have not yet been completely entered up. As a result of the notice in the Press that we were prepared to distribute named collections of blood-sucking insects, several applications for specimens have recently been received from suitable institutions, and it is proposed to despatch preliminary consignments to all of them before the end of this month.

The engagement of Mr. Campion as an Assistant in the middle of January last has very greatly facilitated the work in the office, but the increasing clerical work occupies nearly all his time, so that he has not had much opportunity of assisting in the more purely entomological matters.

The Crown Agents were approached by the Colonial Office with a view to their undertaking the work of collecting and recording the subscriptions to the Bulletin, but to this they were unwilling to assent. The Committee is therefore asked to consider the desirability of placing the matter in the hands of some reliable pub- lisher. This will be the more convenient, because we shall now have to make arrangements with some such firm to take over the unissued copies of each part as it is published, and to store them and distribute them as required; for our new printers, while willing to send out each new part to our subscribers, do not care to undertake the storage and distribution of back numbers.

At the suggestion of Mr. Read, the Stationery Office was asked to consider the question of printing the Bulletin for the Committee. The Superintendent of Demands having expressed the conviction that they could reduce our costs for actual printing by 30 to 40 per cent., arrangements were made to transfer the business from Messrs Taylor & Francis to Messrs. Darling & Son, the Stationery Office con- tractors. Unfortunately this took place just when the manuscript of the forth- coming part was ready to go to the printers, and as the discussion and arrangement of numerous details occupied a considerable amount of time, there has inevitably been a serious delay in the publication of the part. This will appear, however, within a day or two.

So far as can be judged from the proofs, the work has been done in a thoroughly efficient and satisfactory manner. With the exception of two maps, the illustra tions have been dealt with as before, and not through the Stationery Office. In this part the original drawings for all the papers have been kindly supplied by their respective authors, and the Committee is specially indebted to Mr. Newstead, who has been good enough to draw no less than 36 text-figures and three plates to illus- trate his two important communications.

Provided there are no withdrawals, there will be 288 subscriptions for 1911, as compared with 193 reported at the last meeting. But the great part of this increase is due to the fact that it has been arranged that the Tropical African Colonies and Protectorates shall pay for the copies they receive, instead of having them free.

Reference has been made elsewhere to the importance of largely extending the scope of the Bulletin, so as to make it more generally useful, provided that the neces- sary funds can be obtained, not merely for the increased cost of production, but also to secure the services of a competent sub-editor, who could devote the whole of his time to the journal.

A statement has been circulated giving the actual payments and receipts in respect of the volume for 1910, which shows a net loss of £320 16s. 4d. It may be estimated that for a similar volume for 1911 the loss should not be more than £200.

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