346 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 47 



plants in the United States that depend on pollen transfer by insects 

 has a value in excess of 2 billion dollars. In this field as in others, 

 however, the picture that has commonly been drawn is an unbalanced 

 one. Most discussions of the subject have been in terms of the honey- 

 bee and bumblebees. Admitting the tremendous importance of these 

 insects, it must yet be recognized that there are thousands of species 

 of plants for which the honeybee and bumblebee have no meaning. 

 Great nimibers of other insect species, solitary bees, flies, beetles, moths, 

 and butterflies, and even, occasionally, such small creatures as thrips, 

 function as pollinators of these plants and in numerous instances 

 play an absolutely essential role. Without them a considerable propor- 

 tion of our garden flowers and shrubs could not exist, nor could there 

 be the wealth of color and variety in the wild plants that clothe our 

 valleys and hillsides in proper season. Insects, therefore, make a 

 contribution to the esthetic and recreational resources of man that is 

 not inconsiderable. 



Much of the vegetation that adds beauty to the desert areas of the 

 earth consists of insect-pollinated plants. Such also is the case with 

 the chaparral and other growths that hold back the runoff on hillsides 

 and gentler slopes over vast acreages and so protect the lowlands from 

 destructive floods. 



In summation, it is perhaps impossible to visualize adequately the 

 totality of beneficial effects which insects exert directly or indirectly 

 on human welfare, but the benefits are incalculably great. It is not 

 too much to say that insects determine the character of man's world to 

 a far greater extent than he does himself, and that if they were suddenly 

 to disappear completely the world would be changed so extensively that 

 it is extremely doubtful that man would be able to maintain any sort 

 of organized society whatever. 



I repeat, therefore, that the time has come for entomologists gen- 

 erally, and for economic entomologists in particular, to present to a 

 public that is manifesting increasing interest in insect life, a more 

 rounded and better balanced picture of insect life. It is time to appeal 

 for interest and support on the basis of this more complete picture 

 and man's place in it, recognizing that all forms of life are interwoven 

 in an integrated whole which needs to be understood before it can 

 safely be changed in any radical manner, and that in arriving at this 

 more intelligent basis for orienting ourselves to the insects there is no 

 place for categorical condemnation or praise. On the contrary, each 

 species or closely knit group deserves to be considered independently 

 and judged on its individual merits. 



