PEEFACE. 17 



which has become classical on its subject, did much 

 towards creating a general interest in Entomology. 

 But the publication of the ' Canadian Entomologist,' 

 a journal aided pecuniarily by the Dominion Go- 

 vernment, and owing its success chiefly to the un- 

 selfish labours of Mr. William Saunders, has assisted 

 the progress of Entomology in America probably 

 more than any one other similar undertaking. The 

 publications of the Entomological Society of Phila- 

 delphia must, however, not be overlooked ; their 

 success was owing to the care and attention of 

 Mr. Ezra T. Cresson, their establishment largely to 

 the generosity of the late Dr. Thos. B. Wilson, whose 

 name is recalled in our collections l)y the pretty 

 and interesting moth Ciris Wllsoiiii. But the real 

 fostering influence of Entomology in America is its 

 practical side, the interests of agriculture, although 

 the condition of political machinery in the United 

 States has allowed a different set of qualities than 

 purely scientific ones to influence its appointing 

 power. The first journal published in the United 

 States devoted to Economic Entomology was, I 

 believe, the 'Practical Entomologist,' issued by Mr. 

 Cresson, Mr. Blake, and, perhaps, other gentlemen 

 connected with the Entomological Society of Phila- 

 delphia, and of which I was Editor for the first few 

 numbers *, to be succeeded by the late Mr. B. D, 

 Walsh. 



The actual amount of injury inflicted by insects 

 on the yearly crops of various kinds in the United 



* Among the editorials contributed by myself was a short on© 

 entitled " Cui Bono'?" 



B 



