During the past several vears, the field of insect pathology has “come of age,” so to speak, and has been enjoying somewhat of a revival with regard to the interest taken in it by entomohgists and others. This renewed interest, engendered by several factors, is reflected in the recent establishment of research laboratories and academic courses in various parts of the world. Since there is an increasing demand for information regarding the nature of the field concerned, the type of organization required to maintain it, the training necessary to prepare for it, and the opportunities available to those who wish ro enter it, there is reason to believe that a brief general discussion of these aspects would be of pertinence and value at this time. Although there is a real temptation to wax philosophical concerning our subject, for the present it is perhaps safest to avoid such an approach and to limit our remarks to a rather prosaic presentation of factual material.

In nearly every year our attention is drawn to one or more cases of human myiasis in various places in Alberta. Unfortunately, in every instance where these have concerned infants, the larvae had already been removed and placed in alcohol. We have submitted a number of these larvae co Dr. E. M. Walker, at Toronto University for determination. He has not cared to commit himself by identifying first instar larvae but he classified all specimens which were in the 2nd or 3rd instar as species of Wohlfahrtia. He, further, suggested that they might be meigenii Coq. At the time when he identified them for us, it was believed that this species, though described from Europe, did occur in Western Canada.

One female and a damaged male of this rather extraordinary physogastric beetle were brought into the laboratory early in November, 1946. A few days later four further males and three females were collected from the same situation, a roadside bank of hard calcareous clay facing SSW, at Mill Creek, Edmonton. In view of the many references to this insect rn entomological literature, but the scanty information given on it, some laboratory observations were considered worth while.

While it is said, with some truth, that man's greatest conflict is with man, and although that conflict shows little indication of soon abating, he faces other conflicts which are also very real and immediate. Man is one of the many competing species in the world's interdependent fauna and his very existence is inextricably interwoven with that of the other animals in his environment. Man's progress may be measured largely by the degree to which he has been able to shape his environment to meet his needs and few would deny that in so altering his environment he has made human existence more tolerable and consequently, more satisfying. At least few of us would elect to return to a more primitive stage of human history.