TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



IMPORTANCE OF ENTOMOLOGICAL STUDY 



The study uo longer ridiculed except by those ignorant of its recent 

 progress, 1. The literature of entomology, 2. The serial publications 

 devoted to it, 2. The number of American entomologists, 2. State en- 

 tomologists employed, 2. The entomological work of the General Gov- 

 ernment, 2. 



Extent of Insect Depredations 



The povrer of insects in combination, 2. Their omnipresence, 2. Their 

 antagonism to man, 3. Their dependence upon vegetable food, 3. No 

 vegetable growth free from attack, 3. Number of species occurring upon 

 cereals, garden vegetables, fruit-trees, forest-trees, shade-trees, etc., 3. 

 Extent of injuries illustrated by reference to the grape phylloxera, 4 , 

 when first known, 4 ; introduced into Europe, 4 ; its spread and rav- 

 ages in the vineyards of France, 5 ; rewards oflered for discovery of 

 means of prevention, 5 ; its introduction into Australia, 5. 



Losses from Insect Depredations 



Not a crop cultivated that is not tithed by insects, G. The occasional 

 entire destruction of crops, 6. Insect ravages should be regarded as a 

 direct tax upon agricultural products, 6. The tax may be greatly 

 diminished, 6. Loss to the wheat crop in the State of New York from 

 the wheat-midge, estimated, G. Loss in Ohio and Canada from the same 

 insect, 7. Losses in Illinois and Missouri from the chinch-bug, 7. Esti- 

 mated value of crops destroyed in Western States by the Rocky Mountain 

 locust, 7. Estimated damages from the cotton-worm in Southern States, 



7. Annual losses to agricultural products in the United States, 8. 



Excessive Insect Depredations in the United States 



The necessity of the study of insect injuries in this country, 8. The 

 injuries greater here than in any other part of the world, 8. Most of our 

 agricultural products are of foreign importation, and witli them their at- 

 tacking insects have been introduced, 8. Some of the principal imported 

 insects mentioned, 8. Few native species have been returned to Europe, 



8. "America the home of insects," 9. Insects with their importation 

 display increased destructiveness, 9. Shown by the greater injuries here 

 of the cabbage-butterfly, the asparagus-beetle, and the carpet- beetle, 



9. The conditions more favorable. to their increase than in their native 

 homes, 10 ; in more abundant food, 10 ; in leaving behind them their nat- 

 ural parasites, 10. Crops massed in large areas promote insect ravages, 



10. Illustrated by the increase of apple-insects, 10. Nowhere else in 

 the world are special crops cultivated in so large an acreage, 11. The 



