318 ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW- YORK 



which they yield, than for the timber and fuel w^hich we obtain 

 from them. 



Many things which are most interesting and remarkable are 

 brought to my view, in the researches in which I am occupied, 

 and I sometimes think there is no kind of mischief going on in 

 the world of nature around us but that some insect is at the bot- 

 tom of it. Certain it is that these little creatures, seemingly so 

 insignificant and powerless as to be unworthy of a moment's 

 notice from any body but the curious, occupy a most important 

 rank in the scale of creation, and on every side of us their per- 

 formances are producing most important results, tending probably 

 in an equal degree to our benefit in one direction as to our detri- 

 ment in another. We are accustomed to read with wonder the 

 accounts which authors give of the singular habits and amazing 

 achievements of these creatures in foreign lands, little suspecting 

 that in the fields and woods around our own dwellings, operations 

 are constantly going on w^hich are every whit as interesting and 

 marvellous. Since my last Report was presented, I have suc- 

 ceeded in completing the history of an insect w^hose deeds are as 

 astonishing as anything on record in the annals of science. It is 

 well known that certain insects have been created apparently for 

 the sole purpose of preying upon other insects, and thus restrain- 

 ing them from becoming excessively multiplied. But I am not 

 aware of any discovery hitherto made indicating it to be the oflice 

 of any creature of this class to check the undue increase of any 

 of the higher orders of animals. The fact has long been known 

 of the squirrels of this country that the males are very frequently 

 emasculated, but how this deformity is produced has all along 

 been involved in doubt, it being the current popular supposition 

 that some of these animals seize and overpower their unfortunate 

 fellows and with their sharp teeth reduce them to the condition 

 of eunuchs. But I am now prepared to report a fact which will 

 probably set this mooted point to rest. I find we have a species 

 of fly, analogous to the bot fly of the horse and the gad fly which 

 produces the warbles in the backs of cattle, the grub of which 

 resides in the scrotum of the squirrel and consumes its testicles. 

 How surprising that an insect should have been called into exis- 

 tence for the express purpose of executing such a singular work 

 as this ! 



