332 JOURNAL OP ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol.2 



The knowledge which we at present possess of the great importance 

 to mankind of the insect -world has been almost wholly the accumnla- 

 tion of the past centuiy, for the most part of the past thirty years. 

 Thirty years ago our entomological workers were few^ in number and 

 their work was but little noticed by the masses, except as an outbreak 

 of the Rocky Mountain grasshopper or some similar phenomenon re- 

 minded the thoughtless that creatures possessing neither size nor 

 swagger can sometimes force themselves into the full limelight of 

 human attention. Thirty years ago the United States Department 

 of Agriculture carried an entomological staff that would scarcely 

 compare with the present day staffs of several of our experiment 

 stations, and the experiment stations were not then established. A 

 few state entomologists kept lonely vigils in cramped quarters, and 

 maintained their enthusiasm by corresponding with each other and 

 from pure love of the work. At present the Government Bureau of 

 Entomology employs more than 100 scientific investigators and 250 

 clerical employees. Fifty-one experiment stations scattered through 

 our states, territories and island possessions employ in the aggregate 

 from eighty to ninety entomological workers, besides clerical help^ and 

 have considerable equipment in the w^ay of libraries, machinery, etc. 

 The regular appropriation made by the last Congress for the Bureau 

 of Entomology was $184,960, besides an emergency appropriation of 

 $250,000 to be expended under the bureau's direction for suppression 

 of the gypsy moth. The appropriations made b}" the various state 

 legislatures in support of entomological investigation by state agencies 

 is much more liberal than formerly. New Jersey in some years giv- 

 ing as much as $10,000 for mosquito extermination work alone, and 

 Massachusetts $250,000 to be expended against the gypsy moth. 



Following the lead of the United States in this study of insect 

 control, many other countries, in every quarter of the globe and the 

 islands of the sea, have employed entomologists, taking from America 

 as many experienced men as could be persuaded to go at salaries from 

 double to quadruple what they receive at home. 



This small but trained army of workers is busy following out the 

 life histories of insects which are injurious, testing the effects of 

 various poisons and insecticides upon both insects and plants, with the 

 aid of mechanics devising machinery suited to insect warfare in gar- 

 den, field, orchard, forest and city, noting the effects upon insects of 

 meteorological and climatic conditions and changes, and studying the 

 interrelations existing between different species of insects, and lietween 

 insects, birds and insectivorous animals. Many of our worst insect 

 pests are importations from foreign lands, such as San Jose scale. 



