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The question as to what steps should be taken with reference to the termina- tion of all the Government grants to the Bureau at the end of the present financial year was then discussed. It was agreed to approach the Secretary of State with a view to asking the Treasury and the contributing Governments to continue their grants for another five years, and that this appeal should be supported by a statement of the work done by the Bureau, to be drawn up by the Director.

The desirability of utilizing a portion of the surplus funds of the Bureau in carrying out investigations into some of the most important insect pests attacking food crops in this country was also discussed. Dr. Marshall thought that this might be done by appointing workers to make certain investigations on the sugges- tions and advice of the Board of Agriculture. An opportunity for doing some useful work of this kind had already arisen in connexion with pests of tomatoes grown under glass. Dr. Marshall said that it would be possible to obtain the services of Mr. F. Muir to superintend work of this sort, and he understood that this gentleman would be willing to do this merely on payment of his expenses. He thought it of great importance that growers and farmers should have the practical assistance of an expert, and that this would have much more effect than advice as to undertakings which would have to be carried out by the farmer himself. This had been recognized in the United States of America by the expansion of their extension service. Sir John McCall thought that this would possibly clash with the work of the Board of Agriculture, but Mr. Fryer explained that, though propa- ganda work was carried out specially by the Board, research was largely undertaken by Universities and other bodies, and added that he thought that, in view of the large field for investigation, any further assistance that could be rendered by the Bureau would be welcomed by the Board.

Sir David Prain expressed a doubt as to whether it was proper to use the funds of the Bureau to deal with problems confined to this country, and suggested that, though the work must necessarily be carried on in the United Kingdom, it would be advisable, to restrict it to food crops in which the Dominions and other parts of the Empire were equally interested. It was therefore agreed to eliminate the words "in this country" from the resolution. After some further discussion it was decided to devote a sum not exceeding £1,000 to this purpose, and to send an official letter to the Board of Agriculture informing them of this decision, and asking for facilities to carry out the scheme, at the same time making it clear that the proposed investigations should be on such lines as were primarily of benefit to the Dominions and Colonies.

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Annexure.

HALF-YEARLY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE IMPERIAL BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. DURING the past financial year the work of our Bureau was threatened with serious dislocation, or even interruption, by the decision of the Office of Works to Our Chairman was take over the Natural History Museum for other purposes.

one of the first to enter a strong protest to the authorities against the proposal, and we have fortunately been permitted to continue in undisturbed possession of our premises.

At our last meeting the Committee approved the suggestion that a memorandum to the Ministry of Reconstruction should be prepared, in conjunction with the Association of Economic Biologists, emphasizing the great national importance of economic biology and the urgent need for the proper organization and encourage ment of this branch of science by the Government. A sub-committee, composed of members from both bodies, drew up a provisional draft, copies of which were circulated, and, after a few minor additions and alterations had been made, the memorandum was signed by our Chairman, on behalf of the Bureau, and by Professor Newstead, as President of the Association, and Lord Harcourt kindly submitted it himself to Dr. Addison.

At the suggestion of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Agricultural Education Association at Reading have decided to make an attempt to collect precise information as to the losses of staple crops in this country due to the attacks of insect pests and diseases, and they recently wrote to the Bureau asking us to co-operate in the matter. In our present circumstances we are hardly in a

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position to render much practical assistance in this connexion, yet it seemed advisable that we should at least associate ourselves with an investigation of this nature. I have, therefore, already attended two committee meetings for the purpose of arranging the preliminary steps to be taken and the preparation of the forms upon which the returns are to be made by voluntary observers whenever these can be secured. If any members of our Committee can find persons who would be willing to assist, by sending in returns of this kind, I shall be glad to have their names and addresses as soon as possible.

It will be remembered that at our last meeting the Committee sanctioned a preliminary expenditure up to £100 to enable us to send entomologists to investi- gate the Anophelines in any area in England concerning which the military authorities might desire information. Since the acknowledgment of our offer no request for assistance of this kind has been received, and therefore nothing has been done.

Staff-Towards the end of December Lieutenant Waterston returned from Salonika for the purpose of preparing a report on his work for the military authorities. He brought with him a large collection of mosquitoes for the Bureau, and has written an account of the species occurring in Macedonia for the Bulletin, which is now in the press. He left again for Salonika early in March.

A short time ago Dr. Lamborn wrote from East Africa that he was desirous of securing a permanent post on the medical staff of one of the East African Colonies unless there was a reasonable chance of his obtaining continuous employ- ment under the Bureau. I had to explain that, while we should much regret losing the services of so keen and careful a worker, it was impossible for us in the present circumstances to guarantee him any permanent employment, and that he was free to make such arrangements for the future as might seem best to him.

In accordance with the permission previously granted by the Committee, an additional assistant, Miss Ralfs, was engaged in January to help in the prepara- tion of the catalogue of plant pests, at a salary of £3 a week. Her work appears to be most satisfactory, and has been supervised by Mr. Hugh Scott, who has himself almost completed a summary of all the publications and reports dealing with South African pests. Owing to the temporary cessation of our normal supplies of current literature from Russia, Mr. Hermer, our translator, has been employed recently in extracting the information required for our Pest Catalogue from the numerous Russian publications in our library.

Library. Considerable additions have been made to the library during the year in spite of postal and other difficulties connected with our exchanges. Mr. Neave reports that we have now nearly 1,200 bound volumes, besides some 250 awaiting binding. We have been having some difficulty in getting our books back from the binder, but he has now arranged to do twenty-five volumes a month regularly, and the cost will be between £60 and £70 a year. Appreciable progress has been made with the cataloguing, and the author's index to all the papers in the bound periodicals is now nearly completed. The collection of pamphlets comprises at the present time about 2,200 reports, separates, etc.; this has been rearranged and catalogued during the year.

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"Review of Applied Entomology."-The sales of this periodical during 1917 show a satisfactory increase as compared with 1915 (Messrs. Dulau & Company did not supply any details of the abnormal sales in 1916), the number of volumes sub- scribed for being:-Series A and B, together, 133; series A only, 28; series B only, 36; gross sales of back numbers, £19 2s. 3d. The total net sales yielded £120 18s. 5d.; this more than covered the cost of distribution, which amounted to £109. Of the triennial index the number sold (at 5s.) to the end of March was 51.

The matter published in Volume IV. was slightly greater than in the preceding year, being 776 pages against 700. Below is given a comparative table of all the abstracts we have published, grouped under the countries where the originals appeared.