2l8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.84 



Through, the Depredations They Commit, and Recijies for Their 

 Destruction, Induding the Recipes of Various Authors, with Remarks 

 on Their UtiHty ; also a Few Hints on the Causes and Treatment of 

 Mildew and Canker on Fruit Trees and Cucumbers, etc." In his 

 introduction the writer is apologetic, but insists on the importance 

 of the subject; acknowledges that he has not been in the habit of 

 writing but hopes that the usefulness of the information " will 

 apologize for the defects of style and composition." It occurs to 

 us that he perhaps ought to have apologized for the length of the 

 title. The different insects are considered under their host plants, 

 and the remedies are described at length. He takes up one proposed 

 remedy after another and gives the result of his exjierience. As 

 would naturally be supposed, they are gardeners' remedies. The book 

 is worthless from the present standpoint, but is interesting and 

 curious as indicating many of the remedies used by gardeners at that 

 time, the majority of which were based u])on erroneous ideas as to 

 the biology of the insects. 



In i860, John Curtis' famous volume " Farm Insects " was pub- 

 lished by Blackie & Son, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. Nothing 

 quite comparable to this book had been published before in any 

 language. It is dif^cult to see why John Curtis made such a mark in 

 economic entomology. He was not a farmer ; he was not trained 

 scientifically, but was simply apparently a born naturalist who loved 

 insects and who excelled in delineating them. 



Curtis was born in Norwich in 1791, and died in London (I think) 

 October 6. 1862. From the age of four, he loved plants and animals, 

 and began a collection of butterflies. At 16. he was placed in the 

 office of a Solicitor, and at 18 he left that ofifice. He became acquainted 

 with Mr. Simeon Wilkin, the possessor of a fine collection of insects, 

 and resided with him as curator, meeting from then on most of the 

 London entomologists. He became a very competent draughtsman, 

 and in 1819 came to London and was employed as an entomological 

 draughtsman. Lie began to illustrate the genera of British insects for 

 Stephens, and continued in this work for 16 years. TTis drawings are 

 the most perfect and beautiful ones that had ever been seen by his 

 colleagues. During this time he began to write for the " Gardener's 

 Chronicle " on insects injurious to agriculture, and in this famous 

 journal he published 120 papers signed " Ruricola." He also pub- 

 lished, in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, a series of 

 " Reports on the Economy of Insects Obnoxious to the Farmer and 

 Gardener," and on these reports was based his famous volume. 



