INSECTS AND ENTOMOLOGISTS 225 



Before the development of the aniline dyes there was no more beau- 

 tiful scarlet than that obtained from the cochineal insect, a miserable 

 coccid, allied to some of our destructive mealy bugs. As a pigment 

 it produced a beautiful carmine, and this may make us look more leni- 

 ently upon creatures like the cottony cushion and San Jose scales. 

 Several of our common soft scales, notably that huge creature that 

 infests the tulip tree, give a purplish extract in alcohol, and so do some 

 of the Lachnid plant lice ; but they will hardly be considered now-a-days 

 as a source of coloring materials. 



Insects figure to some extent in the pharmacopoeia, although not so 

 much now as they did in days gone by. That powdered roaches had 

 medicinal qualities was known to the ancients, and I believe that tinc- 

 tures and extracts of these insects are still obtainable. Spanish flies or 

 cantharides have a well deserved reputation for blistering properties 

 and have been used to promote the growth of hair. They have also 

 been made into extracts and tinctures, and used internally for a variety 

 of troubles. 



Bees produce an acid that is useful in some rheumatic affections, 

 and it is asserted that the simplest effective method of application is 

 to allow the bee itself to administer the remedy directly to the affected 

 part. Incidentally, by this method the patient gets back at the operat- 

 ing physician, for whether the patient is benefited or not, the adminis- 

 trator dies as the result of the application. 



But decoctions and other preparations of insect species are no longer 

 so much thought of as in days gone by, and we now run to sanitation 

 and other preventive measures, to serums and antitoxins, to antiseptics 

 and to coal-tar products, so I need hardly claim very much more for 

 insects under this head. 



I might mention that insects as food material are not unknown, 

 and while I have already mentioned locusts as a plague, I might add in 

 mitigation that they also serve as an important article of food for the 

 natives in the countries where they occur in such numbers. Wood- 

 boring larva? and even insect eggs have been and are even yet eaten; 

 but their value in these respects can hardly be deemed sufficiently great 

 to give them a favorable standing in our present communities. 



Indirectly valuable to man are a long series of species that act as 

 scavengers, reducing dead animal and vegetable matter to its inorganic 

 compounds, and another series that serves as an aid to plant propaga- 

 tion. The former need little attention because man can do scavenger 



o 



work much better and quicker himself ; but in the work of plant pollina- 

 tion the importance of insect work is scarcely appreciated by the public 

 at large. 



Numerous plants depend absolutely upon insects for continued ex- 

 istence, and there are all stages of dependence from those where the 



vol. lxxvi. — 16. 



