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C.O.885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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No. 29.

MINUTES OF THE ELEVENTH GENERAL MEETING OF THE ENTOMO- LOGICAL RESEARCH COMMITTEE HELD AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE ON WEDNESDAY, 22ND MAY, 1912.

PRESENT:

The EARL OF CROMER (Chairman).

Colonel ALCOCK.

Mr. AUSTEN.

Dr. BAGSHAWE.

Sir J. ROSE BRADFORD.

Dr. HARMER.

Dr. MAC Dougall.

Sir J. MCFADYEAN.

Sir DANIEL MORRIS,

Professor NEWSTEAD.

Professor NUTTALL.

Lieutenant-Colonel PRAIN.

Professor POULTON.

Mr. READ.

Mr. SCOTT.

Dr. SHIPLEY.

Mr. WARBURTON.

Mr. MARSHALL (Scientific Secretary).

Mr. PARKINSON (Secretary).

Mr. NEAVE, Travelling Entomologist, East Africa, attended the Meeting.

1. The minutes of the tenth General Meeting* were approved.

It was decided, on the suggestion of Sir Daniel Morris, that a copy of the report presented by Mr. Marshall to the Committee on his visit to the West Indies in January, 1912, as representative of the Committee at the West Indian Agricul- tural Conference, should be sent to the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies for his confidential information.

2. Mr. Marshall submitted his quarterly report (copy annexed).

As regards the contribution of £50 from the Egyptian Government to the Committee, a reference to which was made in Mr. Marshall's report, the Chairman observed that this would not be available until next financial year.

torates.

3.--(a) Mr. Neave submitted a report of his tour in the East African Protec- He stated that he reached Nyasaland in January, 1910, and there visited every station (with one exception) in the Protectorate. His original plan was to cross over to the East Africa Protectorate from Nyasaland through German East Africa, but when at Karonga he received telegraphic instructions to proceed to the Luangwa Valley and search for Glossina palpális. A period of about four months in all was occupied in connection with the visit to the Luangwa Valley, and some additional investigations made at the request of the Acting Governor in the Dowa sleeping sickness area. From Nyasaland he entered German East Africa, but in order to save time and expense, he travelled by rail from Kilossa to Dar-es-Salaani and thence by boat to Mombasa, instead of carrying out his first intention of crossing on foot and entering the East Africa Protectorate near Taveta. From January to July he was working in the East Africa Protectorate, where all the accessible stations were visited, and all but two of the medical stations. In July he moved to Uganda, and, after spending six months travelling in that Protectorate, returned to the East Africa Protectorate, devoting six weeks to work in the Coast strip. On this occasion he visited Lamu, thus leaving only one medical station in the Protectorate unvisited, viz., Kismayu.

In the course of his journey, he distributed all the entomological outfits with which he was provided by the Committee, mostly to Government officials, but in a few cases to private individuals.

The number of insects collected during his tour from January 1910, to December 1911, so far as ascertainable at present, was 130,778, of which 15,500 were blood- sucking arthropods.

• No. 9.

27

The Chairman expressed the gratitude of the Committee to Mr. Neave for the excellent way in which he had carried out the task entrusted to him, and remarked upon the value of his services from a scientific point of view.

(b) Mr. Neave, at the Chairman's request, detailed the arrangements which he would like to make for his next tour in East Africa. Having completed the pre- liminary survey of the three Protectorates, he proposed that he should now devote twelve or thirteen months to each of them in turn. It was very important that the prevalence of insects in the different seasons of the year should be determined, and to this end it was necessary that he should remain more or less in one locality for a whole year. In order to go from the simple to the complex, he proposed to visit Nyasaland first, then the East Africa Protectorate, and then Uganda--the reason being that in Nyasaland there is a clear division of the year into one wet season and one dry, whereas in the East Africa Protectorate there are two wet seasons and two dry, and in Uganda an indefinite and complicated series of seasons.

Mr. Marshall supported this proposal, explaining that so far Mr. Neave had travelled continuously, stimulating the local officials to collect and take an interest in entomology as well as collecting himself, but that, the general survey of the East African Protectorates being now finished, it was necessary to determine the relative importance of the insects, and the means of exterminating those which were economically a danger. At the same time, Mr. Neave would take any opportunity such as that afforded by the cold, dry season, when insect life was comparatively scarce, to travel round to suitable stations and keep the local officials interested in the work.

The Committee approved Mr. Neave's proposals.

(c) The question of renewed outfit for Mr. Neave was discussed. The Com- mittee agreed to a sum of £75 being expended on the renewal of his outfit, personal and scientific, with the proviso that if this amount proved insufficient he should submit an application for a further grant through Mr. Marshall to the Finance Sub-Committee.

4. A copy of correspondence* between the Colonial Office and the Imperial Commissioner for Agriculture for the West Indies as to the appointment of an Assistant Entomologist was discussed.

It was

Dr. Watts had stated that he would welcome the assistance suggested, but that the appointment would necessitate the finding of additional funds. suggested by Mr. Read that if the Committee held that the appointment was really one of importance, it might be advisable for the Committee to find half the estimated cost, viz., £200 per annum, and to ask Dr. Watts to find the other £200 by savings on that portion of the Imperial grant which is allocated for incidental expenses. In reply to a question by Dr. Shipley, he stated that he thought the appointment should certainly he made for a fixed period, say three years in the first instance. Both Sir Daniel Morris and Mr. Marshall were of opinion that, in view of the importance of economic entomology to the West Indies, Mr. Ballou, the Entomologist, ought to receive all the assistance possible. As, however, the Committee was spending its income, it could not find £200 per annum from its funds except by trenching on its reserve balance. The Chairman enquired, therefore, whether the Treasury could not be approached with a request that they would increase the grant to the Imperial Department of Agriculture by £200, on the understanding that the remaining £200 would be found from savings on the vote for incidental expenses.

Mr. Read said that a letter could be written to the Treasury on those lines. The Committee decided that a recommendation to this effect should be submitted to the Colonial Office.

5. The Committee discussed briefly the question of making some "further progress at this stage with the scheme for the extended investigation of insect pests in co-operation with the Governments of the self-governing Dominions of the Empire. Mr. Read urged that at any rate a start should be made with the special bulletin which it was proposed to edit lest further delay should lead to a loss of interest in the scheme. The Chairman said that he agreed with Mr. Read in thinking that, if possible, a beginning should now be made, but that the question of finance needed careful consideration.

On the motion of Dr. Shipley, the Finance Sub-Committee was requested to consider at an early date what steps could usefully be taken in the matter.

• Nos. 14A and 25.

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