CHAPTER VIII 



THEIR RELATION TO MAN AS BENEFACTORS 



Insects as benefactors to the human race have 

 been very Httle considered, their position on the op- 

 posite side having been so much more emphasized ; 

 and yet, if some few species were ehminated, their ab- 

 sence would be very seriously felt for a time, until a 

 substitute for them could be discovered. Possibly 

 the reference to them as benefactors is a little inac- 

 curate for most of those referred to here — they are 

 useful to man rather than his benefactors. We might, 

 of course, class as benefactors those that pollenize his 

 fruits and. other crops; but there the benefit is indirect 

 as to man, and more direct as to the plants, hence coming 

 under another head. 



Directly beneficial to man are those insects that 

 act as scavengers, working to reduce to their original 

 inorganic compounds those animal and vegetable 

 materials that are dead or dying and of no further use 

 as living organisms. The extent of the benefit thus 

 derived is absolutely unappreciated; but were all 

 insect scavengers removed at one time and all dead 

 animal and vegetable material left to other decays, 

 the foulness and noxious odors that would be thus let 

 loose are beyond all description. 



Does a small animal die in the field — within a few 

 hours burying beetles are working to get it under- 

 ground; flies have laid their eggs on the body and 

 numerous other species have begun feeding on the skin, 

 the hair and the flesh. Within twenty-four hours in 

 summer, the process of disintegration is well under 

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