NORTH AMERICA 



THE UNITED STATES 



Early History and Early American Writers 



The crops of the early colonists in America apparently did not 

 suffer seriously from the attacks of insects. The growth of agricul- 

 ture was relatively slow. The opportunities for the introduction of 

 new insect pests froin other countries were practically non-existent. 

 Apparently very few native insects changed their habits and took to 

 cultivated crops.^ During the Revolutionary War and shortly after- 

 wards, five or more injurious insects began to attract attention. 

 Around Boston a native species damaged squashes and pumpkins to 

 such an extent as to cause general attention and much vituperation 

 which expressed itself in the popular name which Bostonians gave to 

 it — the Gage bug, after the much hated British general in charge of 

 the forces of occupation in that region. The so-called Hessian fly, 

 a species of European origin, began to be noted after this period, and 

 was similarly given an objurgative popular name. Two more Euro- 

 pean pests were introduced either during this period or shortly before, 

 namely the codling moth (a name gained from England), which is 

 the cause of wormy apples, and the so-called Angoumois grain moth, 

 or " fly weevil," the latter becoming serious in the Carolinas and 

 Virginia, having possibly been introduced in the grain supplies of 

 troop ships. The latter insect had done much damage in France and 

 derived one of its popular names from the province of Angouleme. 

 The chinch bug, a native insect, was apparently first noticed in North 

 Carolina at the close of the Revolutionary War, where it was mis- 

 taken for the Hessian fly which at that time was attracting consider- 

 able notice on Long Island and thereabouts. It continued to do con- 

 siderable damage for several years in North Carolina, South Carolina, 

 and Virginia, and again became very destructive in North Carolina 

 in 1809. 



A little book entitled " The Wonders of Nature and Art," by the 

 Rev. Thomas Smith, revised by James Mease, M. D., was pub- 

 lished in Philadelphia in 1807. It contains a long chapter on insects, 

 in which account is given of the seventeen-year locust, of the Hes- 

 sian fly, and, following a memoir by Doctor Barton, some account, 



^ See F. M. Webster, Early published references to some of our injurious in- 

 sects. Insect Life, Vol. 4, pp. 262-265, March, 1892. 



