INSECTS. 227 



known to Prof. Smitli, to ascertain whether the technical 

 terms used in the Order in Council were correct. He replied 

 that technically, the terms of the Order were all strictly accu- 

 rate, but he informed the clerk of the Privy Council, wlio 

 brought him the paper, that it was a perfectly useless piece of 

 legislation ; tliat the Americans got the wlicat midge from 

 England, and that there was no more danger from the intro- 

 duction of American wheat than from the introduction of 

 Scotch wheat. When that information was given to them, 

 they repealed the Order, and it was never promulgated ; but 

 tliat is tlie historical fact. Wliy, then, is the wlieat midge so 

 destructive in America, when it is not in Great Britain ? It 

 is because, in Great Britain, there are a great many parasites 

 that prey upon it ; as soon as one alights, a parasite is ready 

 to stick in its ovipositor and deposit its egg, which, when it is 

 hatched, destroys it utterly. Tliat is the reason why it has 

 never done any damage there. As soon as that Avas known, 

 efforts were made by Dr. Fitch, especially, to secure some of 

 these parasites. He wrote to his scientific friends in Europe 

 to send out to him these parasitic insects which prey upon the 

 wheat midge, and innumerable bottles of eggs and insects of 

 every kind were sent out, but it was found utterly impossible 

 to get them across the ocean alive. But a year or two aji'o, 

 Dr. Fitcli informed me that he believed the parasites had ar- 

 rived, for he has found the insects destroyed by something, 

 and it is believed that in some accidental way the European 

 parasites have escaped from Great Britain and arrived iii this 

 country. If so, the ravages of the wheat midge will be pre- 

 vented. 



In Great Britain, and in almost all parts of Europe, there 

 is a beetle well known as the asparagus beetle. The devas- 

 tations are so marked, that it is only with the greatest diffi- 

 culty that European gardeners can raise asparagus. Up to 

 the year 1863 or '64, it was unknown here. Most of you 

 know what a great business the raising of asparagus is on 

 Long Island. Many men have a hundred acres in asparagus, 

 and nothing else. All at once, to the utter astonishment of 

 every one, clouds of tiiQse asparaigus beetles made their ap- 



