302 REPOET OF THE SECRETAllY OF THE 



the larvas of our May-flies (Ephemera?) do eat earth, aud I 

 have known the larTse of the common May Beetle to feed for 

 three months upon nothing hut pure soil ; but in both these 

 cases the insects undoubtedly derive nourishment from the 

 vegetable matter which is extracted from the earth by the 

 action of the stomach. 



These facts will serve to show you that, seek where you may, 

 you cannot find a place or a substance in which, or on which, 

 some insect does not feed. They people the skyey vast above, 

 swim at ease in the water, and penetrate the solid earth 

 beneath our feet; while some of them inhabit indifferently all 

 three of the elements at different epochs of their lives. 



Now when we reflect that there are at least half a million — 

 if not a full million — distinct species of insects in this sub- 

 lunary world of ours, and that their habits and habitations 

 are so diversifiedj it Avould really seem as though entomology 

 was a subject too vast for any one man to shoulder; and 

 indeed it is in all conscience extensive enough. The science 

 of entomology is, however, so perfect in itself, and its classifi- 

 cation is so beautiful and simple, that a particular species is 

 referred to its Order, its Family, its Genus, and finally separ- 

 ated from the other species of that genus, with the greatest 

 ease, and with a feeling of true satisfaction aud triumph, by 

 those who have mastered the rudiments of the science. And, 

 very fortunately, it is not necessary for the practical fruit- 

 grower to enter into the minutiae of species, or even of genera, 

 in order to learn the habits of the insects which interest him 

 in one way or another. These minutire must be left to the 

 professed entomologist. 



There is not an insect on the face of the globe which can 

 not be placed in one or the other of seven, or, more properly 

 speaking, eight great Orders ; so that, unlike the Botanist, the 

 Entomologist is not bewildered by an innumerable array of 

 ' these Orders, though he has five times as many species to deal 

 with. These Orders comprise about two hundred families, 



