212 HALF HOURS WITH rN"SECTS. [Packakd. 



Domestic fowl, as well as the quail and crow, and the 

 toad and skunk, devour the grubs and beetles. The flesh of 

 fowls which have eaten them, however, should not be placed 

 upon the table, as the Colorado beetle is poisonous, and 

 taints the flesh. Among the artificial remedies the use of 

 Paris green, one part mixed with five of flour, and sprinkled 

 over the plants dr}^ or the Paris green alone mixed with 

 water is by far the better, and is now in universal use in the 

 western states. 



But however well Europe has succeeded in keeping Amer- 

 ican insect pests out of her borders, the easy-going, slack 

 American farmer witnesses the arrival of European pests 

 without let or hindrance. America is the land of the free, 

 whether of those human pests who leave foreign countries 

 for their country's good, or of their entomological proto- 

 types. The same good-natured indiflference and want of 

 intelligent forethought, that let the Colorado beetle travel 

 unimpeded from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast, 

 looked with unconcern upon the importation of the Euro- 

 pean currant saw fly into this country, and beheld its rapid 

 spread throughout the east and west. 



We were less to blame for allowing the Hessian fly to get 

 a foothold in our land. During the Revolutionary war, 

 before we had gained a nationality, this midge was brought 

 over in straw by the Hessian troops. As early as 1788, at 

 least, this insect, or one exactly like it in habits, as shown 

 by Dr. Harris, was known to be destructive in Switzerland. 

 Harris states that jt was "first observed in the yeal' 1776 in 

 the neighborhood of Sir William Howe's debarkation on 

 Staten Island, and at Flat Bush, on the west end of Long 

 Island. The history of its advance inland as given by 

 Harris is a repetition of the mode of naturalization of the 

 European cabbage butterfly and saw fly, known with cer- 

 tainty to be imported insects. 



The Hessian fly (Fig. 167, a, larva; b, pupa) is about 



20 



