220 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.84 



tice were insisted ii|X)n by Curtis as a means of avoiding insect dam- 

 age or lessening it. This is a fundamental idea which received mature 

 and careful consideration l)y American economic entomologists only 

 at a much later date. 



Curtis was also one of the early writers accurately to defnie the 

 situation as regards natural control. The following words occur on 

 page 23: 



* * * for it is a wise dispensation of Providence to keep every animal in 

 check by some other that is either more powerful or more sagacious than itself ; 

 and this counteracting effect is produced in a degree equal, or eventually superior 

 to the noxious animal, so that in a greater or less space of time the destructive 

 power may be rendered no longer formidable, or be absolutely annihilated by 

 the attacks of its parasites. This natural process, though never failing, is often 

 too slow in its operation to secure immediate relief ; the farmer must, therefore, 

 devise means, if possible, for the more speedy destruction of the enemy. 



The final sentence in this c[uotation contains an idea which I have 

 myself frequently in late years put into words when referring to bio- 

 logical control, without, however, the slightest idea that Curtis had 

 written it prior to i860. 



The volume " Farm Insects " is a collection of the articles that 

 Curtis had published in the Gardener's Chronicle and in the Journal of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society. It was chiefly on account of the value 

 of these articles that he was awarded a pension from the Civil List 

 He died October 6, 1862. Some time before his death he sufifered 

 complete loss of sight. The government, with a care unknown in this 

 country, augmented his j^jension when this occurred. 



It is generally agreed that " Farm Insects " is the most beautifully 

 illustrated standard work in English on the subject down to the time 

 of the perfection of the photo-engraving process. 



Great Britain, however, with the exception of this great work by 

 John Curtis, did practically no important work in economic ento- 

 mology before 1880. Professor Westwood, it is true, had written 

 many short articles for the agriculttn-al press concerning individual 

 injurious insects, and the farmers, and especially the gardeners, seemed 

 to have evolved methods of culture that afforded their crops measur- 

 able protection from insect attacks to a point at least where the sim- 

 plest hand oi>erations were all that were necessary as a general rule. 

 There was not, however, any especial Government ap]:)ropriation for 

 work in economic entomologA-. Jn 1885 .Mr. Charles Whitehead sug- 

 gested to the Lords of the Committee of Council for Agriculture that 

 it would be valuable to publish reports on insects injurious to vari- 

 ous farm crops. He prepared, and the Council published, a series of 



