Clje Caiiaritan |iiitoinoloui$t 



Vol. XLVII 



LONDON, MARCH, 1915 



No. 3 



POPULAR AND ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



IMPORTANCE OF OBSERVATIONS ON APPARENTLY 

 UNIMPORTANT INSECTS. 



BY F. M. WEBSTER. BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



In the course of the writer's somewhat extended experience 

 in the investigations of insects, with especial reference to their 

 economic significance, he has occasionally found himself con- 

 fronted with criticisms on account of having apparently expended 

 both time and funds in studying insects whose attacks were, or 

 had been, so far as known, of little or no importance. It therefore 

 seems not out of place to direct attention to a number of instances 

 showing that such restrictions are not always warranted and that 

 the present status of importance of a species cannot be taken as 

 conclusive respecting its future, or indeed near future significance. 



Selecting a number of instances in point from my own experi- 

 ence and of others working under my direction, that of Myochroiis 

 denticoUis, the southern corn leaf beetle, which has since become 

 better known by reason of its disastrous attacks on growing corn 

 in Kansas and southern Ohio, may be first mentioned. The first 

 observations made on this insect in the corn field were purely 

 accidental. 



The writer happened to be passing through a field of young 

 corn in Tensas Parish, La., in April, 1887, and observed a few of 

 these beetles attacking the plants by gnawing the outside of the 

 stems. There was nothing observed at the time that would 

 indicate the least likelihood of this ever becoming a serious pest, 

 such as it has since proven itself. To have passed over the fact 

 without mention would have been to fail to record the basic obser- 

 vation on the insect as a corn pest. 



Curiously enough, during the same month in the same locality 

 the adults of Ceratoma caminea were observed attacking cultivated 

 beans in the garden of an old negro, whose cabin was located in 



