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(iii) Plant Pest Legislation.-Approximately 400 copies of the Summary, as Low issued, had been sent free of cost to the Governments which contribute to the Bureau. The Colonial Office had drawn the attention of all the Governments to the importance of keeping the Bureau advised of any changes in their plant and pest legislation, in order that the Summary might be revised and brought up to date from time to time.

(iv) M. Hegh's Pamphlet on Tsetse Flies.-Major Austen's translation of M. Hegh's pamphlet would be of great value to investigators now working in the field It was proposed to publish it as a separate pamphlet similar in form to the Summary of Plant Pest Legislation.

(v) Publication of Systematic Papers.-It seemed probable that next year th sum to be expended on the publication of systematic papers in other journals would have to be increased beyond the limit of £100 at present fixed.

(vi) Glossina Investigations.-The general result of the action of the Glossina Sub-Committee in the matter might be considered very satisfactory, having regard to the financial difficulties, as a considerable amount of useful work had been taken in hand. The latest information from Dr. W. B. Johnson, in Nigeria, was to the effect that he and Mr. Ll. Lloyd had made a preliminary tour; that they were carrying out on an extended scale dissection of tsetse flies to ascertain what trypano- somes were to be found in them; that the food of the fly was being carefully analysed, and that efforts were being made to secure definite information as to breeding seasons.

(vii) Stegomyia Survey. The possibility of yellow fever being introduced into Asia from the Panama Canal by the carriage and establishment of infected S. fasciata might now be regarded as very remote. There was, of course, always a possibility that yellow fever might be introduced into Asia in other ways, e.g., an infected person might land where other species of Stegomyia were prevalent, and these might spread the disease; but the inquiry carried out by Dr. A. F. Stanton and Dr. W. A. Lamborn, which was confined to the possibility of the introduction of the disease by the agency of S. fasciata, had now been brought to a satisfactory conclusion with apparently definite result.

The Committee accepted the report and expressed their satisfaction generally at the position disclosed by it. In particular, Sir Daniel Morris called attention to the value of the Summary of Plant Pest Legislation.

5. A suggestion that the Review of Applied Entomology should be advertised

in other scientific journals was discussed.

The Committee authorised the Director to expend up to £10 on such advertise- ment, in the first instance, for a period of a year: the question of continuing the practice to be further considered at the end of that time.

6. The Secretary suggested that it might be more convenient if the General Meetings of the Committee were not held on the third Thursday in May and November, but on a date in the second or third week of May and November to be settled each time three to four weeks in advance. He had ascertained that Lord Harcourt would himself prefer this arrangement.

The Committee agreed that in future the meetings should be arranged on the lines suggested. As regards the time for meetings, the Committee expressed a preference for 3 o'clock rather than some later hour.

54508

Annexure to No. 36.

IMPERIAL BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY.

HALF-YEARLY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR.

It was anticipated that one of the results of the Entomological Conference held last year would be a marked increase in the number of insects sent in for identi- fication, and the returns for the past six months fully justify that anticipation; in the following details the figures for the corresponding six months of last year are given in brackets for comparison. In all, 121 (84) consignments of insects were received, containing some 24,600 (15,000) specimens, of which 6,400 (5,250) were blood-sucking insects. The number of lists of names sent out to correspondents was 84 (33) Africa, 41; Asia, 18; Tropical America, 15; Australasia, 10-and these comprised 2,223 (1,080) specific identifications.

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That we have been able to cope with this influx of material and to send out so many identifications has been mainly due to the fact that we were fortunate enough to secure, from the 1st May, the services of Mr. G. E. Bryant as an entomological assistant. Mr. Bryant, who is a coleopterist, has recently presented his very large collection of beetles to the British Museum, and for some years past he has been working voluntarily at the arrangement of the Museum Phytophaga, a large group of leaf-eating beetles that comprises many actual and potential pests. He will now specialize on this group for us, as well as identifying Coleoptera in general, and help with the naming of Lepidoptera and Diptera.

Finance. The various official grants have come in fairly satisfactorily, just three-fourths of the amounts due having been paid; but a slight difficulty has arisen in the case of Jamaica, the Legislative Council there having voted only £50 instead of the £100 that was promised. Representations have been made to the Governor on the subject by the Colonial Office, expressing the hope that the remaining sum will be voted later.

The receipts and disbursements during the half year are shown in Appendix I. The large amount paid into the Provident Fund includes a sum of £523 for the two and a-half per cent. allowed on salaries prior to the 1st April last; of this, £77 has been debited to the original Tropical African Fund. On the present scale of salaries the annual contribution paid by the Bureau will be about £350. The Crown Agents report that the Fund is now running quite satisfactorily, and they do not propose to charge for it, unless the work increases materially.

The items included under Office Furniture consist chiefly of new presses for storing reserve stocks of our publications, shelving for the library, and a typewriter. Appendix II. shows our available funds and outstanding liabilities for the remainder of the financial year. The estimates for the two publications are largely a matter of guesswork, but they are probably on the safe side. In any case there will certainly be a substantial surplus at the end of year; but it must be remembered that two higher posts, for which provision was made, have not yet been filled.

"Bulletin of Entomological Research."--During the half-year another volume (No. XI.) has been completed, and the following is a statement of the estimated coat :-

Printing, 4 parts Index Illustrations Postages

Clerical work, say

£ s. d. 450 0 0 Subscriptions

Sale of back parts

64 0 0

124 15 7

Advertisements

27 8 2

Net loss

10 0 0

£676 3 9

£ s. d. 148 0 0

92 6 6

14 8 0

421 9 3

£676 3 9

The loss is lower than was anticipated, this being partly due to the compara- tively small cost of illustrations, which usually average about £50 a part; in two parts the cost was only £10 and £13 respectively, the highest being £67. This money was expended entirely on the making of the blocks and printing the plates, for we had to pay no artiste' fees whatever.

In accordance with general experience, the raising of the subscription price has had no ill effects. The subscribers numbered 194, as compared with 189 and 177 in the two preceding years; and the net receipts from sales and advertisements amounted to £217 68. 4d., as compared with £121 138. 4d. for Volume X.

The Stationery Office have recently advised us that in future all purchases or printing done for the Bureau will be surcharged ten per cent, instead of five per cent, as at present. However, this advance will be more than compensated by the fall in the cost of printing.

The

Sundry Publications.-The revised summary of the Plant Pest Legislation in force in the British Empire has been recently published in pamphlet form. Copies have been distributed to all the contributing Governments, roughly on the basis of one-half the number of the copies of the Review that they receive from us. Stationery Office estimated the cost of production at about £63 for 1,000 copies, and the retail price has been fixed at 2s. 6d. It is understood that the Colonial Office propose to draw the attention of the various Governments to the desirability of keeping the Bureau promptly informed as to any changes in, or additions to, this kind of legislation, in order that revised editions of the pamphlet may be brought out from time to time.