MAN AND INSECTS 



By L. O. Howard 



An article for the Journal of the MarvhinJ Academy of Sciences 

 should necessarily be thorouj,'hly sound scientilically. It should 

 not be written in a sensational way. It should deal with facts and 

 should reason lo<;iciilIy from these facts. 



I am inclined to think that the best way of statinj^ tlie case I 

 wish to present will be in a series of limited and definitely stated 

 parajijraphs. 



1. The insect type is very many millions of years older than 

 the vertebrate type, of which the human species is the latest de- 

 velopment. 



2. The insect type has, therefore, been tried out very thoroughly 

 under world conditions, while the human species is comparatively 

 in its merest infancy. 



3. Many forms of life have been tried, have been found wanting, 

 and have disappeared in the course of the ages, but the insect type 

 has persisted in spite of all cataclysms. 



4. The human type may be one of nature's experiments that 

 will fail. It has not been in existence long enough to have been 

 thoroughly tried out. 



5. The human species, in spite of its physical disadvantages, 

 has jumped to the fore with unexampled speed owing principally 

 to the evolution of the quality known as intelligence. Through this 

 intelligence it has either destroj'ed or controlled or converted to 

 its own use nearly all other forms of life. 



6. In its very rapid increase and spread, however, the human 

 species has so disturbed the balance of nature as to favor the in- 

 crease and spread of disease-bearing miscroorganisms and as to 

 encourage enormously the multiplication and spread of injurious 

 insects. In its efforts to feed its increasing millions, it has fed 

 increasing billions of insects. 



7. Prophets of evil tell us that human overpopulation of the world 

 is approaching, and approaching rapidly; that mass starvation is 

 sure to come; that birth control is necessary if greater production 

 of plant food can not be stimulated or if new foods can not be 

 invented. 



'Reprinted by pormlsslon from The Journal of tlie Maryland -Vcademy of Sciences, 

 Vol. I, No. 2, April, 1030. 



396 



