179 



Entomology; for when they see whole fields of wheat and corn 

 cut off and wholly destroyed by insects, they are in deep trouble, 

 and would spare no pains or expense to get out. A year ago 

 last fall as I was about to sow my wheat, I read very carefully 

 your articles on the wheat fly or weevil as we call it here, and 

 the Hessian fly, and treated the crop according to your reason- 

 ing, and the consequence was, I got one-third more wheat to the 

 acre from the poorest of my land than my neighbors did from 

 new ground." 



In a document of such compass as the one I here present, em- 

 bodying such a multitude of observations, upon subjects which 

 have hitherto been but little studied in our country, I do not 

 flatter myself that every thing stated is accurate and free from 

 error. Aware from my own experience in how many instances 

 reinvestigating the structure and habits of an insect causes me 

 to modify and change the opinions which previous observations 

 have led me to form, I cannot doubt that in numerous instances 

 further examinations of the species here treated of will show 

 that amendments are required. I regard these reports as only a 

 foundation, a stepping-stone to further researches in this direc- 

 tion, whereby any errors into which I may have fallen will be 

 corrected and the habits of each particular species will become 

 fully examined and made known. As it is german to this sub- 

 ject, I take the liberty to add a paragraph from a letter which 

 came to hand as my previous report was passing through the 

 press, from Mr. Curtis, whose recent articles on insects injurious 

 to field and garden crops, in the Journal of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society furnish such admirable models for essays of this 

 kind, and whose great work on British Entomology, illustrated 

 with unsurpassed clearness and accuracy, constitutes an endu- 

 ring monument to his fame. He says, " I rejoice to find 

 you are setting to work in good earnest with the noxious Insects 

 of America. One of the most important steps is to get their cor- 

 rect scientific names, and as far as possible to identify your spe- 

 cies by giving good figures of them. For want of correct names 

 a vast portion of the published accounts by Gardeners and Far- 

 mers previous to the publication of Dr. Lindley's Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, relative to economic Entomology, were worthless. 



