Eighth Report of the State Entomologist. 263 



To-day, the application of the knowledge which has been so long 

 acciiinulating, to advancement in agriculture, horticulture, s>hi- 

 cultnre, etc., has given to the study of entomology an importance 

 which is recognized as second to no other department of natural 

 history. It is being everywhere prosecuted with vigor, by the 

 General Government and by the States, as we have indicated, 

 and by private individuals, in compliance with the wide-spread 

 demand for efficient means of protection from insect ravages — 

 for a release from a taxation upon the products of the farm 

 which is most burdensome, and the compulsory payment of which 

 brings with it none of the compensations that ameliorate the 

 pajonent of other taxes, in the protection that they afford tO' 

 property, and tihe privileges and comforts that they bring to our 

 homes; it is an entire loss. 



The importance of the study of our insect enemies and their 

 habits, may perhaps^ be better seen from a few considerations, 

 which we will present. 



The Secrecy of Insect Depredations. 



Probablj'^ that crop can not be nam«;d that may not be impaire-l 

 one-tenth of its full value without the knowledge of insect pres- 

 ence or recognilion of iasect injury. Such .secret injury is usually 

 due to the OT^erations of root-feeding insect's, which ai^ iiumerous 

 in classes and in species, and from their subternmean life, do not 

 fall under ordinary observation. Among these are plant li'.'e, the 

 caterpillurs of various moths and the larvas of many beetles 

 and flies, known often only to entomologists who have made a 

 study of their early stages. 



It is not an unusual occuri^ice that serious and evident insect 

 injury is inflicted through a tenn of years, while the author of it 

 remains unknown. An illustration of this may be found in the 

 failure of the red clover to pix)duce its seed, which, for a long 

 time was ascribed to the want of fertilization by bees, but was 

 discovered a few years ago to be the result of the feeding within 

 the blossoms upon the forming seed, by the larvi^e of the clover- 

 seed midge. Cecidoinyia legitiainicola. Certain injuries to several 

 of our fruits causing their gnarling and deformation, which have 

 long been a mystery to me, have found their explanation during 



