Part I Insects, their Classification 

 and Distribution. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Twenty years ago, Dr. Geo. H. Cook, then State Geologist 

 as well as Director of the Agricultural Experiment Stations, 

 asked me to prepare, as part of the final report of the survey 

 which was published in 1890, a list of the insects known to 

 occur in New Jersey. The time was brief, the sources of in- 

 formation were few and our knowledge of the classification of 

 some of the orders was limited. That, under the circumstances, 

 the list should be incomplete and imperfect was to be expected, 

 and no one recognized that better than I. Nevertheless, in spite 

 of its defects, the list served a useful purpose and stimulated 

 interest beyond all expectation. It also produced so much addi- 

 tional information that, in 1899, ten years later, the State Board 

 of Agriculture authorized me to prepare another edition, or in 

 reality a new work, which was published in 1900 as a supplement 

 to the Twenty-seventh Annual Report. 



In this second edition a number of departures were made. 

 More time being; allotted and more material bem? at hand, the 



o o 



aid of specialists in the various orders was enlisted and a much 

 more complete picture of the insect fauna was obtained. Illus- 

 trations were introduced and an attempt was made to picture at 

 least representative species of the main groups, And, while it 

 was impossible to give much information about so many species, 

 a great many brief notes on food habits and on the methods of 

 dealing with economic species were incorporated. 



The publication was the most ambitious faunal list ever at- 

 tempted in the United States, and it proved unexpectedly ac- 



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