76 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



economy of nature, of the relations existing between the insect and 

 the vegetable world ? 



A friend — a distinguished jurist and an accomplished botanist — 

 whose opinion had been asked upon this new method of protection 

 from insect attack, with that judicial habit of thought which leads 

 him to meet a new proposition first with the question, " is it right," 

 and afterward, "is it useful," gave me the following note in reply, 

 presenting, although under a vein of pleasantry, some of the objections 

 that arose in his mind. He asks : " Ought I to countenance recom- 

 mendations which may prove disastrous to the great scheme of nature ? 

 Scatter that mischievous carbolic acid all over or around the plant 

 nature has commanded the insect to lay her eggs on, and the leaves of 

 Avhich she has given to the children of those eggs for food, and what 

 tremendous consequences may ensue ! She must and will lay them 

 somewhere, and if, being unable to distinguish the plant devoted to 

 her use by nature, she lays them on another species — if, for instance, 

 the eggs designed by nature for a mint, be laid upon an oak, a mullein 

 or the tomato, what monsters may not the grubs be evoluted into ? Va- 

 rieties of silk-worms have been evolved from differences of food. The 

 progeny may differ very widely from their progenitors, be far more de- 

 structive, and ruin much more precious plants." 



'•' This awful protection may not only be productive of new insect 

 enemies, but it actually aims at striking out of the chain of life one 

 animated link. The insect, led by the nose to the plant to lay its eggs 

 on, fails to lay them. Another insect, which feeds upon the eggs or 

 larvffi, is led by its nose to the plant, but fails to find its food and dies 

 of inanition ; its parasites perish with it ; — and thus, link after link 

 is broken, and the frame of nature is disordered and falls into discon- 

 nected fragments, and all life is obliterated and vanishes in fumo — 

 the foul, all-pervading stench of carbolic acid. I'll none of it ! " 



The above picture of tlie full realization of the purposes of the 

 practical entomologist, although drawn in the colors of badinage, calls 

 for a serious reply, as it is one not unfrequently held up to view by those 

 who regard our efforts as chimerical. We do not propose to extermi- 

 nate — but only to control. The true naturalist would not, had he the 

 power, strike out of existence a single species of insect, believing, as 

 he does, that each one has its place and purpose in nature. There is 

 ample food for every species — possibly, under ordinary circumstances, 

 for all individuals, although doubtless certain species might be dimin- 

 ished in number without violence to the harmony of nature. For this 

 excessive multiplication of individuals, the agriculturist and the horticul- 

 turist are at fault, in inciting and encouraging insects to such multi- 

 plication by offering them food gre-atly superior to, and far more 



