PROGRESS IN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 15 



is a strong argument in favor of continued investigation of insect lives, 

 for it must bo evident that until the several stages are known, the en- 

 tomologist is not prepared to p :)int out the particular phase in which 

 the insect is the most vuhieniblo, and recommend the remedy or the 

 preventive tliat has been found by experiment to be the most efficient 

 and the simplest in its application. 



These studies are laborious. They often involve earnest, long-con- 

 tinued and painful cloister work, in microscopic oI)servation of tiio 

 more minute forms. Other information can only be obtained in the 

 field, orchard, and forest. So many are the details that enter into a 

 complete life-history, that a single one may be the accretion of the 

 united labors of individuals extending over a series of years. The 

 number of persons who are devoting their entire time, or any large pro- 

 jiortion thereof, to economic entomology in the United States is less 

 than a dozen — a number ludicrously small in view of the extent of 

 our country, its varied interests, its range of agricultural products, 

 and an amount of insect losses in largo excess, as has been shown, of 

 those occurring elsewhere, and which, for reasons already given, are 

 increasing among our larger crops to an extent that will, ere long, com- 

 pel the study for their arrest which is so unwisely withheld. 



PROGEESS MADE IN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



"We do not overstate tlie truth, we think, in asserting that the last 

 twenty years have been signalized by a progress in entomology, equal, 

 at least, to that made during the preceding century. In every direc- 

 tion it has displayed a marked advance — in the extensive collections 

 made in every quarter of the globe; in the species described and illus- 

 trated ; the distinguished scientific ability devoted to the study ; the 

 systematic and biological collections arranged in our museums and 

 private cabinets; the classificatory work accomplished ; the valuable 

 contributions to its general literature; the monographs, manuals, 

 and catalogues of families and orders published through the Smith- 

 sonian Institution ; the embryological and anatomical investigations ; 

 and, lastly, the utilization and application of all that has been accom- 

 plishecl in these several directions, to the promotion of the arts of ag- 

 riculture, horticulture, and others, which minister to the comfort, 

 happiness and well-being of mankind. 



1. The Writings of Economic Entomologists. 



Economic Entomology, in this country, had its commencement in 

 tlie labors of Dr. T. W. Harris, and directly, in the publication of 

 his Report on the Insects of Massachusetts Injurious to Vegetation, in 



