422 THE BIOLOGY OF INSECTS 



The study of Economic Entomology and the recognition of 

 its importance have advanced with the increase of knowledge 

 as to the part played by insects as enemies of cultivated areas 

 in almost all parts of the world. In our own islands the 

 pioneers of economic entomology were enthusiastic amateurs 

 like John Curtis (1859) and E. A. Ormerod (1877-1901). 

 Now the subject is being systematically studied in the 

 official laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture, in the 

 famous research institute at Rothamsted, and in connection 

 with the faculties of science in most British universities. 

 It is, however, on the great Continents, and especially in the 

 tropics, that insect pests present the most serious problem 

 to the cultivator. Through the activities of the British 

 Imperial Bureau of Entomology and the authorities of the 

 overseas Dominions, Colonies, and Protectorates, increasing 

 attention is being paid to the importance of insects in relation 

 to tropical agriculture and forestry, as well as to the entomo- 

 logical aspects of disease and preventive medicine which 

 will be discussed later in this chapter. Most of the 

 European Governments now show by their action a recog- 

 nition of the importance of Entomology both in their home 

 countries and in their tropical possessions. It must, 

 however, be admitted willingly and gratefully that the 

 United States of North America first taught the world how 

 to deal on a large scale with insect pests. In the New 

 England States entomological reports were officially pub- 

 lished eighty-five years ago, and it is over seventy years 

 since the inception of the world-famed Federal Bureau 

 of Entomology at Washington. The practice of economic 

 entomology requires not only a knowledge of the structure, 

 life-histories, and habits of insects and their relations to their 

 plants on which they feed : in the composition and applica- 

 tion of dressings and spray-fluids for destroying the pests, 

 problems of technical chemistry and the action of poisons — 

 whether ** stomach-poisons " hke arsenical compounds to 

 be swallowed by biting insects, or " contact poisons " like 

 nicotine or paraffin to be absorbed by sucking insects — have 

 to be taken into account. The subject is therefore one in 



