1921] The Age of Insects 21 



that is conferred upon me by powers vested in the State of North 

 Carolina and the government of these United States, but a speciaUst 

 in an obscure group of insects. I tell you this to defend myself against 

 the hordes of speciahsts in other groups who may hold up their hands 

 in holy horror at some of the generalizations that I may make. Now 

 the specialist is a sort of rare bird whose words are a law unto himself, 

 at least, and who knows so much about his own pet field that he knows 

 nothing about anything else and his final defense in all arguments 

 about his field is, ''Well, I am the specialist in this group. " To which 

 some of you, who are broadly academically minded if not lay minded, 

 must feel like exclaiming, "We are thankful for that much at least." 

 The difference in those things is of course one of degree. For instance 

 a student of insects is, naturally, an entomologist but a student of 

 fleas is a Professor of Suctoria, the student of the hind leg of a flea is a 

 pulicidid morphologist and the student of the hairs on the second joint 

 of the hind leg of a flea is a speciaUst and I say it reverently, "May 

 the Lord help him!" 



With this rambhng and somewhat generalized introduction, you 

 will pardon me if I turn your attention to some of the various aspects of 

 the insect world in order that we may examine them more closely. 

 Emerson said something to the effect that fools are amazed at the ex- 

 traordinary and wise men wonder at the ordinary. I shall presume 

 therefore on your wisdom and use only ordinary examples with which 

 to paint my picture of the insect world. 



The Number of Insects in the World 



The possible number of insects in the world has always been a sub- 

 ject of very great interest to me. I, of course, refer to the number 

 of kinds or species not to the number of individuals. No one has been 

 foolhardy enough to make a personal census of insect individuals as yet, 

 I believe. The nearest approach to this are the statements that mis- 

 guided sanitarians and others make, sometimes, to the effect that 

 starting with a single pair of houseflies we would have, by the end of 

 summer, so many quintillions of flies. We all know this is not true, 

 save perhaps on a summer afternoon when we are trying vainly to get 

 our allotted forty winks and all but succeeding because of several of 

 the above mentioned quintillions that persist in lighting just to the 

 windward of an upturned nose. Or there is the statement that start- 

 ing with a single plant louse, with all of her descendants surviving, we 



