INTRODUCTION. 21 



habits of an inconspicuous beetle, who shall say that any 

 living thing is too minute or too humble to be unworthy 

 of the gravest study of the wisest minds. "He prayeth 

 best who loV'Cth best all things, both great and small." A 

 spot of mould, a streak on a boulder, a tiny insect, may, 

 through the exhaustive research of a modern scientist, 

 possess the potentiality of blessing a famishing province 

 with the joy of permanent abundance. 



July 4tli, 1890. 



