A.—2

arrangements to increase their annual grant to us from £4,000 to £5,000. Dr. Ferriere hopes to be able to start work with us on the Ist September, and certainly not later than the Ist October. He has agreed to accept the initial salary of a senior assistant, and the committee is asked to confirm this tentative offer which it was necessary to make to him. As a result of Dr. J. G. Myers's work in Essex last summer a number of blowfly puparia have been distributed, of which a considerable percentage was parasitized by the Braconid "wasp, Alysia mandvcator. The numbers sent out were as follows : New South Wales, 6,400 ; New Zealand, 6,000 ; Western Australia, 2,800 ; and the Falkland Islands, 1,260. In Australia and New Zealand parasites were bred from the material, and Mr. D. Miller, in New Zealand, obtained a good second generation, and has released two lots. Mr. Gurney, in Sydney, also secured a local generation, but has recently reported that the insects are not doing well, but gradually decreasing. No reports have come in from the other localities. With regard to the parasite ( Misocyclops) of the pear leaf-curling midge sent to New Zealand, very satisfactory reports have been received from the Government Entomologist, Mr. D. Miller. Writing in December last, he said that a great number of parasites had been bred from the material sent out, and that a second generation had been found in the field. Writing on 24th March, 1927, he says : At this time of year pear-trees in midge areas usually show no signs of leaves, but this year there is quite a show of healthy foliage." The parasite has been found to have established itself in several orchards. Finance. —In Appendix II will be found an account of the sums received and expended during the past year. Nearly all the items are much the same as usual, and accord fairly closely with the estimates. Salaries are £500 higher than last year, owing to increases in the staff, and general expenses are up by £137, owing to an exceptional payment of £127 for arrears of national health and unemployment insurance, our liability for which had been in dispute. Arrangements have now been made with the Ministry of Health whereby both the Bureau and its staff are exempted from payments for health insurance and old-age pensions, but they are still liable for contributions for unemployment insurance. On the income side there was a fall of £44 in interest on deposits, and a rise of £15 in receipts from the Zoological Record. Appendix 111 shows our present cash resources and outstanding liabilities, the unexpended balance being £8,573. An estimate of the revenue and expenditure for the current financial year will be found in Appendix IV, the probable surplus being £1,193 ; this is higher than last year's estimate, partly owing to the transfer of Dr. Neave's salary to the Laboratory Account, and partly to the lower salary increments that will be paid this year as a result of the arrangements made for consolidating the bonuses. Collections of Insects. —The number of insects received, as well as the identification work done, shows an increase as compared with the previous year, although the figures do not quite come up to those of two years ago. There has, however, been a marked increase in the number of correspondents who have sent us material for identification. In the following details the corresponding figures for the preceding year are given in brackets for comparison : — The collections received totalled 378 (314), and these were sent in by 158 (133) different correspondents, distributed as follows : Africa, 57 ; Asia, 40 ; Australasia, 22 ; Europe, 20 ; Tropical America, 19. The collections contained 62,200 (54,200) specimens, of which 4,900 (4,800) were bloodsuckers. During the year 250 (218) lists of identifications were issued, comprising 6,763 (6,155) specific names. The insects presented to the British Museum numbered 19,600 (14,900), of which 286 (318) were types of species new to science, and among the remainder were 444 (553) named species not previously represented in the national collection. Some 3,400 named specimens of blood-sucking insects were presented to the following institutions : London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and Pacific Biological Laboratories. Review of Applied Entomology.—The volumes for 1926 were somewhat larger than those for 1925, containing 880 (824) pages, although the number of abstracts was actually less, being 2,365 (2,514). During the earlier months of this year thera has been a noticeable increase in the numbers of entomological papers, and there is certain to be a steady growth in the amount of literature that will have to be abstracted annually. It must also be remembered that with each succeeding volume of the Review it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid the publishing of abstracts that are little more than repetitions of earlier ones, and that the search for references to earlier abstracts on the same subject (which we always give, where possible) becomes necessarily more arduous. Highly techincal papers on chemistry and similar subjects in their relations to entomology are also becoming more numerous, and the abstracting and editing of these take considerably more time than in the case of purely entomological papers. There seems, therefore, to be a real need for some increase in the abstracting staff. So far as sales are concerned there has again been a satisfactory increase in the number of annual subscribers, those taking series "A " totalling 393 (352), and those taking "B " 339 (323). On the other hand, the sales of back volumes have not been so high as in the previous year, amounting only to £188 16s. lOd. (£221 17s. 6d.), and the receipts from advertisements—namely, £27 2s. 6d. (£42 lis. 3d.) — also show a falling off ; but this was only to be expected in a year in which trade was so bad. There has been a continued small demand for the ten-vear index to series " B," 22 copies having been sold, bringing in £9 18s. Of this index, ] ,000 copies were printed, and 512 have now been sold or distributed. The total net sales, exclusive of advertisements, amounted to £469 18s. Bd., having been £541 in 1925, £431 in 1924, and £341 in 1923. Zoological Record.—Volume 62 of the " Insecta " part, covering the literature for 1925, was published in August, 1926, and was, therefore, more up to date in its appearance than has ever previously been the case, and this in spite of the fact that it was a very large volume, dealing with 3,230 papers and occupying 421 pages. The statement rendered to the Zoological Society at the end of the calendar year showed a balance of £47 13s. 3d. (£3l lis. Id.) in favour of the Bureau, after deduction

37