A.—2

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attached ; (2) the organization of a system for securing the prompt identification of any noxious insects which may be submitted for that purpose by officials of any of the Governments concerned ; and (3) the publication of a journal, to be issued monthly, containing concise summaries of'all the current literature which has a practical bearing upon the investigation or control oi injurious insects. With reference to the last item, it may be explained that the amount of literature published on these subjects, in various languages, is already very considerable, and is steadily increasing. It is therefore becoming more and more difficult for the practical worker in economic entomology to keep himself properly posted up in the investigations and discoveries which are being made by workers in other parts of the world, and a publication of the kind suggested would certainly be of great utility. It would probably be convenient to issue such a journal in two separate parts, dealing respectively with insects injurious to plant-life and insects directly injurious to domestic animals and man. As this journal would contain only reviews of work published elsewhere, the entomological committee would continue to issue, as at present, its quarterly bulletin, which would then be entirely confined to the publication of original articles dealing with similar subjects. In order that the entomological committee may effectively carry out the above proposals it will be necessary for them to increase their present staff. The preparation of the monthly journal would involve a considerable amount of labour, and would require the services of two men. One at least of these would need to have a good general knowledge of entomology, and. also to be acquainted with not less than two or three foreign languages. Another man would be required to handle and record all the specimens sent in for identification ;. to forward the insects to the various specialists, and transmit their reports to the officials who had supplied the material ; and generally to deal with all correspondence arising out of this work. Finally the whole work of publication and identification would be supervised by the committee's scientific secretary. With regard to the identifications supplied by specialists, the committee has adopted the principle of paying a small honorarium for such work wherever it may appear necessary or desirable, but the expenditure under this head is likely to be comparatively small. Some further outlay would probably be necessary for the purpose of procuring various periodicals dealing with economic entomology which are not obtainable in the scientific libraries in London ; and some allowance must be made for general office-expenses. The following is an approximate estimate of the probable annual cost of the above proposals: Senior assistant for journal, £300 ; junior assistant for journal, £200 ; assistant for entomological work, £200 ; publishing and distributing journal, £300 ; supervision and general expenses, £200. Appendix.—Proposals for a general Survey of the more important Insect-pests Injurious to Cultivated Plants in the British Empire. The attention of Governments is everywhere being drawn to the importance of dealing with insectpests on administrative lines. Consequently, regulations dealing with the importation of plants and vegetable products are being issued in every country. British colonial Governments are among the foremost in passing such regulations, but these regulations are not co-ordinated, and vary widely in different parts of the Empire. It is anticipated that this may lead to hindrances to trade in agricultural produce, without necessarily keeping the respective countries free from plant-diseases. The object of the present regulations dealing with plant imports is to keep out or to deal effectively with pests or diseases which might be brought into a country with growing plants or plant-produce — i.e., the intention is to guard against certain dangers in the form of pests and diseases known to occur outside the colony, which that colony does not wish to introduce. In the majority of cases the respective Governments have but little exact knowledge as to occurrence of insect-pests in the countries from which their imports come, and most colonies guard themselves by trying to exclude everything that might possibly bring disease. The present proposal is to obtain and supply to all the colonies definite information regarding the more serious insect-pests affecting plant-life which occur in the various portions of the Empire, so that each colony may know the specific dangers against which it will have to protect itself in its commerce with any other colony. There are at present hindrances to trade which are needless, as not conferring any real advantage ; on the other hand, there are dangers not guarded against because of defective knowledge ; and it is probable both of these will increase rather than diminish as there is more intercommunication. The tendency to increase restrictions is growing, and already the list of pests in the case of some colonies is a formidable one. Such regulations once imposed -are seldom withdrawn, even if they prove useless ; and, moreover, they are not always directed against the disease most likely to prove injurious. It if possible that in certain cases restrictions would not be imposed, and in others would be made less severe, if based on a study of the disease in the country from which the plants are to be imported, as well as < n an investigation of the diseases existing in the country to which the plants are to be sent. The first step to be taken is to prepare a classified list of such pests as now exist in each part of the Empire, arranged according to the present degree of injury they cause and the commercial importance of the plants upon which they feed. As there is some doubt as to the correct scientific nomenclature of certain pests, specimens of each insect could be sent with the list to the Entomological Research Committee for identification and confirmation. The list, when prepared, would be published by the committee and communicated to the various colonies and dependencies of the Empire. Eventually each colony and dependency might be invited to prepare a survey of the diseases of agricultural crops on lines to be agreed upon, showing not only which pests occur in each country, but their extent and intensity. This survey would be kept up to date by subsequent periodic reports to be sent to the committee, showing the spread or disappearance of such pests, with an account of the means taken for their control; and these reports would be communicated by the committee at frequenr intervals to the other Governments concerned.