ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



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PHILADELPHIA, PA., NOVEMBER, 1906. 



The great value of the study of entomology from an 

 economic standpoint, not only in relation to agriculture and 

 horticulture but in regard to many products useful to man, 

 makes it a pursuit of the utmost importance. The silk and 

 honey industries may be particularly mentioned as being of 

 much interest and value, and bring in a large revenue, and 

 produce both apparel and food. While much has been 

 accomplished in advancing knowledge of insects as carriers 

 of disease-producing organisms, this study is probably only 

 in its infancy, and while this knowledge is of incalculable 

 benefit there is much more to be learned. The value of 

 products annually destroyed by insects in the United States 

 has been placed as high as $i ,000,000,000. In view of all 

 this it is probable we do not as individuals do as much as we 

 should to create an interest in this subject among the masses 

 of the people, and try and enlighten them in regard to simple 

 truths. It sounds very curious for an otherwise intelligent 

 person to say that the house-flies come down from the sky 

 with the spring rains. Still another individual said that 

 mosquito eggs were laid by house-flies. An officer of the 

 State Board of Health of Pennsylvania thought that Balaninns 

 proboscoideus , the beetle produced from the chestnut worm was 

 poisonous and capable of harming human beings by means of 

 its long proboscis. Is there not some means by which we can 

 do more to enlighten the public and advance the interests of 



entomology ? 



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