ever given me by being selected to preside as President
of the Society representing my life's work. I cannot
think of anything more to which an entomologist could
aspire than to preside over this group. Needless to say,
it will be a very difficult task to carryon the excel1ent
work of Dr. Smith during the past year and the other
presidents of the past; but I assure you I will do my
bcst. I pledge my best efforts toward the continued
advancement of the Society and of entomology. Again
may I thank you for this honor.
Usinger to the podium. Dr.
the membership and accepted
with thoughtful comments
future to entomology and to
Usinger was introduced to
the duties of President-elect
upon the chal1enge of the
the ESA.
President Bussart inquired regarding any old or new
business that should be considered. There being none, the
meeting was declared adjourned at 2 :35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
R. H. NELSON
E.wcl/tive SeC1'etary
President Bussart requested
Past Presidents P. W.
Oman and F. S. Arant to conduct President-elect R. L.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
TUE SKIPPERS OF THE GENUS HESPERIA IN WESTERN
NORTH AMERICAWITH SPECIALREFERENCETO CALIFORNIA (LEPIDOPTERA:HESPERIIDAE). 1964. By C Don
.\IacNeill. University of California Publications in Entomology, Vol. 35, 221 p., 28 figs., 8 plates. University
of California Press, Berkeley, California 94720. $5.00
'I'm: CHE~lISTRY OF SO~lE LIFE PROCESSES. 1964. By
Vernon H. Cheldelin and R. W. Newburgh. Reinhold.
New York, N. Y. 10022. 120 p. $1.95 (paper).
G~;XERALCATALOGUEOF THE HOMOPTERA,FASCILE VI
CICADELLOIDEA,
PART 11 CoELIDIIDAE. 1964. By Z. P.
Metcalf. Contribution from the Entomology Department, North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station,
Raleigh, N. C. Agricultural Research Service, USDA.
182 p.
WHO EXPERT COMMITTEEON MALARIA, ELEVENTHREPORT. 1964. World Health Organization: Technical Report Series, no. 291. 46 p. $1.00. Available through
Columbia University
Press, Int. Doc. Serv., 2960
Broadway, New York, N. Y. 10027.
In this report the WHO Expert Committee on Malaria
examines ways of overcoming the obstacles encountered
in the world-wide malaria eradication program, with particular reference to the importance of entomological
studies and their integration into the over-all epidemiological assessment.
BOOK REVIEW
proceeding to a survey of the distribution of plant galls
among the various plant families, followed by a conspectus of the organisms that induce galls. Gall structure is
treated, followed by a survey of the gall to be found on
the distinct regions of plants-roots,
shoots, buds, leaves,
flowers, and fruit. This is followed by an extended account of the gall makers, by taxonomic category, ranging
from nematodes, through the insects, to fungi and bacteria.
This book is the summation of Mani's 36 years of work
on plant galls, chiefly those of India, plus an exhaustive
survey of the literature. The latter has produced a bibliography of 1300 titles that were important enough to be
cited in this work. Undoubtedly, Mani has seen many
more papers that he did not cite here. (Unfortunately,
he does not cite one of the most significant papers of recent years on gall formation, that by Plumb, 1953, Bull.
566, Conn. Agr. Exp. Sta., on the formation and development of the Norway spruce gall.)
TIlE ECOLOGYOF PLANT GALLS, by M. S. Mani (Monographiae Biologicae, vol. XII).
1964. Dr. W. Junk,
Publishers. The Hague, Netherlands. xii
434 p., 9
pl., 164 text figs., bibliography, index. Cloth. 40 guilders ($11.25).
Plant galls have been known from antiquity, but knowledge of the complex interrelationships between gall maker
and plant is quite recent. At first it was thought that the
development of galls on plants was due to intrinsic factors
in the plants themselves (in much the same way that
human disease was thought to be due to an imbalance of
intrinsic humors). Later, when it became clear that organisms (usually insects) that were foreign to the plants
inhabited the galls, the idea developed that the galls were
caused by the interlopers. Then, when the idea of evolution began to pervade all biological thinking, it was
thought that plant galls had developed as mutually adaptive structures, in a sort of commensalism. The fallacy
in that theory quickly became apparent when it was shown
that few. if any. plants derived survival benefits from the
presence of the gall-making organisms. The non-galled
plants seemed to be bettcr off. A later theory held that
plant galls had been evolved by the plants solely for the
benefit of the gall makers.
+
Mani points out the incredible complexity of most plant
galls, with primary gall formers, inquilines, secondary invaders, parasites of both the gall formers and the inquilines and invaders, hyperparasites of all of them, fungi
that develop only on galls, and the numerous other organisms, such as birds or ants, that feed on the galls or the
organisms within them. Much of this information is, inevitably, compiled from the literature, and as such, it suffers from the defect of most compilations. The lists of
scientific names are well salted with misapplied and misidentified generic and specific names.
T. D. A. Cockerell, that sharp-witted naturalist, in 1890
first proposed the most reasonable theory to explain plant
galls. He could see that plants would not enhance their
survival values by developing galls for the benefit of the
gall makers. Rather, he argued, the plants developed galls
to protect themselves against the invading insects. To
quote him, "allowing a tendency to gall formation, natural
selection would have developed galls exclusively for the
benefit of the plants, so that they might suffer a minimum
of harm from the unavoidable attacks of insects."
In the last chapter of this book, Mani attempts to show
an analogy between crown gall of plants and cancerous
neoplastic growths in animals. The information is derived
from the literature, not from Mani's own work. Most
biologists will find the analogy rather weak and unconvincing.
In The Eeolom' of Plallt Galls, Mani states his thesis
similarly, "The central idea of this book is that the development of gall res presents a specific reaction of the plant,
isolating the gall-inducing organism in space and time."
The book is organized around this central theme, first defining and giving the fundamental characters of galls, then
B. D. BURKS
Entomology Research Division
Agr. Res. Serv., USDA
Washington, D. C.
35