]J()()K OF MONSTERS 



TIr' picliirrs in tliis liduk :irc jxn-traits of creatures «liicli are as niiicli 

 tlie real inliabitaiits of tlie \v<irld as we are, ami huxc all the rit^lits of owner- 

 ship that we liaM', hut, because their own struggle for existence so often 

 crosses ours, man\' of them are oiu' enemies. Indeed, mans own real struggle 

 for the supremacy of the world is his struggle to control these tiny monsters. 



The [>lague of the midtlle ages, whic'h s])read like some mysterious sujier- 

 natural curse over Europe and carried otf millions of peo])lc, the yellow fever 

 that has haunteil the coa.sts of Soulh America, the malaria which has strewn 

 the trollies of the world with millions of graves, have l)ecn cansetl by the 

 activities of two of these monsters so imi^ersally present in our homes as to 

 have become almost domesticated creatures, the tlea and the mosquito. 

 During these last two decades these have come imder our control, and the 

 Hies which leave a colony of germs at every footstej) will not much longer 

 be tolerated, indeed, every creature that Ijites and sucks our blood or that 

 crawls over our food and dishes has lieen [ilaced under sus])icion. 



^lan struggles against these tiny monsters not only for his life and health 

 i)ut for his food as well. Almost every culti\ated i)lant has its enemy, and 

 some of them have many. The Imgs alone which stick their beaks into all 

 sorts of plants to suck their juices would star\e man out in one or two brief 

 seasons if they in turn were not held in check by enemies of their own. The 

 chinch bug alone has demonstrated his power to deva.state the wheat fields. 

 The bark beetles that girdle scjuare miles of forest trees, the moths that 

 destroy their foliage, the creatures that burrow into the fruit and fruit trees, 

 the gall-forming flies that form galls on the roots of the grajje vines aide 

 to destroy the revenues of a whole country, the beetle which strips the ])otato 

 of its leaves, the one which infects with its dirty jaws the melon vines of the 

 South and turns the melon patches l)rown — these are a few of the vast array 

 of our enemies. It would re(iuire a book much larger than this one just to 

 enmnerate those well known. 



It should make every American ]iroud to know that it is the American 

 economic entomologist who has, more than any other, ])ushed his way into 

 this field and shown mankind how to fight these monsters which destroy his 

 food, his animals and himself. 



But all these fascinating little creatures are not our enemies. We must 

 not forget that man has domesticated certain of the insects and that gigantic 

 industries de]jend ujion them for their existence. 



The honey-bee furnished mankind with .sweets during the generations 



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