Z INTRODUCTION. 



unable to decide whether such worm was a leaf-mining moth of 

 the Order Lepidoptera, or a prickly beetle (Hispa) of the Order 

 Coleoptera— so closely, according to accounts, do the larvae of 

 these*widely separated groups resemble each other. I have there- 

 fore pursued a different mode of arrangement. As the insects 

 which infest our fruit trees occupy the chief part of this report, 

 they are first considered. Commencing with those which occur 

 upon the Apple tree, I speak in succession of those which affect 

 the root, the trunk, the twigs, the leaves, the flowers, and the 

 fruit. In the same order, insects which occur upon the Pear, the 

 Peach, the Plum, and the Cherry, are successively taken up. 

 From our Fruit trees I pass to some species of much interest 

 which have beeu examined, infesting our Forest trees, our Field 

 crops, and our Garden vegetables. This mode of arrangement of 

 the several topics will be perfectly intelligible to every reader; 

 and, aided by the brief heading which precedes the account of 

 each species, will enable him to turn at once to any insect which 

 he wishes to find, which is here described. 



In a field of such extent, and comprising such a multitude of 

 objects, it will not be expected that the researches of a single 

 season can suffice to briDg this subject to anything approaching to 

 completeness. I think it is Saint Pierre who remarks that he had 

 made it a point to examiae the several insects which made their 

 appearance upon a particular rose bush in his garden, and at the 

 end of thirty years he continued to find new kinds which he had 

 never seen upon the bush before. And however assiduously one 

 may investigate the history of a particular species during the 

 period of its appearance one season, if he returns to the same 

 insect another year, additional traits in its habits commonly con- 

 tinue to be discovered, equal in importance frequently to those 

 Which were first noticed. Those species which I have been able 

 to investigate since I received your instructions, including several 

 which have never been noticed in our country before, will be 

 found fully reported in the following pages. The history of some 

 important depredators upon our American fruit trees, the Plum 

 weevil, for instance, and the Canker worm, which I have not as 

 yet had time and favorable oportunities for examining, I hope to 

 present on a future occasion. 



