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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

CO.885/25

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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a cure, and, in view of the importance of maintaining the supply of British-grown sugar, they passed a strong recommendation to the Colonial Office that they should urge the Trinidad Government to appoint an entomologist for three years for the express purpose of discovering and introducing an effective non-indigenous egg- parasite of the froghopper.

The authorities in Trinidad eventually accepted this recommendation, and your Sub-Committee selected for the post Mr. C. B. Williams, entomologist to the John Innes Horticultural Institution, who left for Trinidad early in this year.

Collections of Insects.-During the last six months 85 collections of insects were received from 45 different correspondents, and these contained close on 20,000 specimens, of which 5,300 were blood-sucking flies. For the whole financial year the figures were:-Collections, 174; contributors, 73 (distributed thus:-Europe 3, Asia 12, Africa 40, America 11, Australasia 7); number of specimens, 82,000; blood- sucking flies, 13,800. So far as we have yet ascertained, only a single collection, sent by the Superintendent of Agriculture in Barbados, has been lost in a torpedoed vessel. During the year 145 lists of identifications were issued, containing about 4,700 specific names.

Named collections of insects were presented to the following institutions:- Aberdeen University; Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine, Queensland; Cam- bridge University Museum; Edinburgh University; Department of Agriculture, New South Wales; Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; London School of Tropical Medicine; Manchester University; Middlesex Hospital; Medical Research Institute, Lagos; Medical Laboratory, Acora; Department of Public Health, New South Wales; Quick Laboratory, Cambridge; Royal College of Science for Ireland; Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh; Wellcome Bureau of Scientific Research; while 10,550 specimens were presented to the British Museum, including 850 blood-suckers, 700 insects of agricultural importance, and 9,000 other insects, among them being the types of 84 species new to science.

"Review of Applied Entomology."-The volume for 1915 is the largest yet issued, containing 1,000 pages of abstracts, while the number of articles abstracted amounted to 1,799, or 346 more than in 1914. The details as to the countries in which the articles were published were given in the Review for January, 1916. From these it will be seen that Russia has advanced to the second place, while the output of publications in France has naturally declined considerably; the United States, Australasia, Canada, Italy, and Scandinavia, all show notable increases.

During the year Mr. Neave has thoroughly reorganized the system of indexing, The and has succeeded in effecting a considerable saving in time and labour. subject index to the B. series has already been typed, and the short index to the A series is nearing completion. The lengthy subject index to the first three volumes of series A. is already well advanced, and it is hoped that it may be possible to publish it about September; the labour involved in the preparation of this index has been very great, and has occupied a considerable proportion of the time of the staff in the Elvaston Place office since November last. At a meeting of the Finance Sub-Committee, the minutes of which have been circulated, it was agreed that in future the system of issuing merely a name index annually for series A., and a sub- ject index at longer intervals, should be abandoned, and that an annual subject index should be published, as is already done in the case of series B.

Recently we have had several inquiries from Russian correspondents with regard to British insecticides and spraying machines, and Dr. Sacharov, of Astra- chan, wrote to us pointing out that there was a great shortage of these goods in Russia, owing to the fact that their previous supplies came almost entirely from Germany, and Russian entomologists could obtain no information with regard to British manufacturers. He suggested that we should advertise in the Review the names of those manufacturers who were in a position to supply such articles, as the results were likely to prove beneficial to both nations. The matter was referred, through the Colonial Office, to the Board of Trade, who supplied us with the names of eighty-eight firms who might be approached on the subject. As the Committee had originally decided that no advertisements should be published in the Review, those members of the Publication Sub-Committee who were available were consulted in the matter, and they all agreed that in the special circumstances the advertisements should be inserted if the firms responded to the proposal. A circular was therefore issued to the firms in question, explaining the position, and offering to insert their advertisements, printed in Russian, in six issues of the Review at the following charges: full page, 40s.; half page, 25s.; quarter page, 12s. 6d. It was estimated

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that this would fully cover all the expenses we should have to incur. Replies are now beginning to come in, and of the nine answers received seven were acceptances, the space asked for amounting to six-and-three-quarter pages.

Library. The question of the accommodation is likely to become pressing in the near future. The total number of bound volumes is now 718, and more than 100 volumes are ready for binding; in addition to this there is a considerable accu- mulation of literature which it is not proposed to bind. A number of purely systematic works have been removed to the Museum office, and an additional book- case has been obtained for the Assistant Director's room at Elvaston Place, but the books waiting to be bound will more than fill the available space. Thanks to the kindness of authors in all parts of the world, the number of separate copies of scientific papers has considerably increased. These are stitched into stiff paper covers and filed on the upright filing system; they have proved very useful for the purpose of lending to correspondents.

The number of exchanges has increased, and it is estimated that the separate parts searched annually for entomological information is now well over 5,000.

APPENDIX I.

Balance Sheet as at 31st March, 1916.

Government grants

Interest on deposits Carnegie students

Petty cash Crown Agents Salaries

Review of Applied Entomology Bulletin of Entomological Research Entomologist to Federated Malay

States

Scientific equipment Camp equipment Office furniture

Dr.

Cr.

8.

d.

£ 8. 24,741 7

d.

457 12

4,788 13

1

14,754 0 2 834 6 11

4

1,702 1

332 12 2

624 7 61

274 2 1

378 7 10

611 19 8

378 11 3

Elvaston Place office Library

612 4 2

211 11 14

83 7 4

Travelling expenses Translations

Specialists' fees General expenses

669 13 64

40720

1,040 4 2 16 14

6

£26,255 18 3 £26,255 18

3

APPENDIX II.

Statement of Revenue and Expenditure for the year ended 31st March, 1916.

Government grants

Interest on deposits Carnegie students

Bulletin of Entomological Research Review of Applied Entomology Salaries

Scientific equipment

Camp equipment

Office furniture

Travelling expenses

Translations for the Review Elvaston Place office

Library

General expenses

Received. Expended.

£ 8. d.

£ 8. di.

5,588 15 8

123 19 10

1,000 0 0

717 18 0

74 2 4

964 5 10 179 12 2 3,638 13 3

21 2 0

12 16 0

43 12 9

54 8 4

160 10 11

191 10 10

85 1 8

103 5 6

£6,786 17 10

£5,552 17

3

158

APPENDIX III.

General Financial Statement as at 31st March, 1916.