12 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 



something like equilibrium for each country ; and what 

 national efforts have now become necessary in order to cope 

 with the depredations of insects which have been unintention- 

 ally introduced, and which flourish amazingly under new con- 

 ditions ; or of indigenous insects which assert themselves in a 

 menacing manner under profoundly altered natural condi- 

 tions. In other words, I propose to discuss some of the great 

 advances made in the study of insect-life, from an economic 

 standpoint; or, as I may call it, the evolution of commercial 

 entomology. 



A brief glance at the damage caused by some of the insect 

 pests that are being dealt with by the entomologist, will show 

 what enormous losses occur every vear, through their depreda- 

 tions. It has been the habit of American writers to make broad 

 statements that the annual loss caused by insects in the United 

 States or some other country is so many million dollars. I would 

 take a few of our insect-pests in detail. 



White Ants {Termites.) The damage caused to wood-work 

 by white ants, in Australia, runs into many thousands of pounds 

 annually, but it is nothing in comparison to what they do in 

 countries where they attack crops. Dr. T. Bainbrigge Fletcher, 

 writing to me from Bengal, India, last month, says, " With us 

 they do a lot of damage to railway sleepers, buildings, etc., but 

 this is insignificant compared with damage to crops, which may 

 be put down at ,£40,000,000 annually for British India alone, at 

 a conservative estimate. In many districts it is necessary to sow 

 two or three times as a matter of ordinarv routine, because the 

 termites eat out the seed and young plants, and even after this 

 take toll of I to \ of the growing crop." 



The white ants will be the most serious problem that the newlv 

 created Department of Agriculture in the Northern Territory of 

 Australia will have to consider when planting their Experimental 

 Farms. 



Cotton Boll Weevil (Anihonomus grandin). This small, 

 blown beetle, that crossed over the Rio Grande into Texas in 1892, 

 has revolutionist;d cotton-growing in the whole of the United 

 States. Speaking in 1 90i), Professor Hunter said, " The cotton 



