PREFACE 



If one can judge from the answers to about fifty letters of inquiry- 

 sent to teachers of Entomology in colleges in the United States, the 

 teaching of Entomology in this country at the present time is in a rather 

 chaotic condition. Very few of the answers received show much in 

 harmony in subject matter, methods of presentation, or even the line of 

 training the students should receive by a course in the subject. 



The author believes that in agricultural colleges at least, two distinct 

 groups of students need a knowledge in Entomology, and rather early in 

 their course. One of these groups is composed of students who will 

 never specialize in the subject but need it as part of an agricultural 

 education, and particularly as a tool which they can use wherever insects 

 are related to their special lines of work. They are not particularly 

 interested in such details as the number of antennal segments in insects, 

 the number of branches of the radial vein, or how important a pest on 

 pigweed the insect is: they do not expect to identify insects beyond the 

 order or family at most, relying on specialists available at the State 

 Experiment Stations for such information. But they do desire a general 

 knowledge of the broad outlines of the subject, and a rather complete 

 knowledge of, and if possible, the ability to recognize particularly import- 

 ant insect pests they are liable to meet in the course of their work. 



The other group consists of those who expect to specialize in the 

 subject, becoming professional entomologists. Their needs will, of 

 course, be different from those of the other group, but an introductory 

 survey such as will meet the requirements of the rest will give the members 

 of this group an excellent foundation for further and more detailed work. 



The present book is therefore offered as a classroom text for an 

 introductory course in the subject, which shall give a general idea of 

 insects, their structure, life histories and habits, with methods for the 

 control of insect pests in general, followed by a more thorough study of 

 the more important ones found in this country. For use, the writer 

 believes that in few places will all of the text be assigned. Instead, the 

 pests of the country as a whole (treated in large type) and those of the 

 particular region concerned (selected from among those printed in smaller 

 type) would naturally be the parts used in any one place, though the 

 book as a whole should be fairly well applicable to all sections of the 

 country. 



The author is of the opinion that to avoid too much monotony, it 

 may prove wise to assign Chapters VI to IX inclusive, among those 



