EDITORIAL APOLOGIA & COMMENTS

by David Wahl

Well, this issue is somewhat overdue . . . by about 2 years. The fault lies entirely with me. A number of factors, including the death of Henry Townes and increased duties at the AEI, led to a steady postponment. Perhaps one of the most important delaying factors was the daunting prospect of typing up the literature citations that have been a standard feature of this (and other) newsletters. The editors of ICHNEWS, however, extensively discussed this service and have decided, beginning with this issue, to drop it (a selected survey of subscribers supported this move). It appears to us that citing all the literature simply benefits too few people for all the work involved. ICHNEWS should be as a forum of communication among the ichneumonoid research community: trips, activities, requests, etc.

On that subject, I should note that last year's questionnaire was sent out to about 225 people. I explicitly noted that those who did not respond would be dropped from the mailing list. Disappointingly, there was only a 40% response to the mailing, and this includes those who signed only their names on the returned questionnaire. Allowing for known active workers, the mailing list has been trimmed to 150.

A newsletter such as ICHNEWS rises or falls upon the interest of the community. It is up to you to determine the contents and quality of ICHNEWS. Points of view, comments, technical matters, reviews, and reports are all welcome. As Paul Marsh discussed in his Editorial in the last issue, research articles are discouraged; ICHNEWS is not a primary publication source.

The editor for the next issue is Mike Sharkey and all items of interest should be sent to him. Since all the editors use WordPerfect, it will be greatly appreciated if lengthy submissions are sent on a diskette in that format.

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