(A.) 



ENTOMOLOGICAL REPORTS OF Dr. ASA FITCH. 



Upon the resumption of economic investigations of the Insects of the 

 State of New York under legislative authority and direction, after an 

 interval of ten years, and upon the appearance of the first of the series 

 of annual reports upon such investigations directed to be made, it 

 seems proper that the labors of the distinguished entomologist by 

 whom the preceding investigations were so ably conducted during a 

 long term of years, should be referred to, and some desirable informa- 

 tion in regard thereto communicated. 



As the entomological reports of Dr. Fitch during the years 1855- 

 1872 constituted the first series of the kind published in this country 

 — followed by those of Messrs. Walsh, Eiley, Packard, Le Baron, 

 Thomas and Comstock — it should be of interest to recall, after the 

 lapse of more than a quarter of a century, the circumstances under 

 which they had their origin, the results that they were expected to ac- 

 complish, and the character of the investigations which they were di- 

 rected to embrace. 



We accordingly extract from the Transactions of the N. Y. State 

 Agricultural Society for the year 1854, that portion of the prefatory 

 matter to the [First] " Keport on the Noxious, Beneficial and other 

 Insects of the State of New York," contained in pages 700-703, under 

 the following title :* 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the New York State Agricultural 

 Society, held at the Astor House, in the city of New York, on May 4, 1854, 



Mr. Johnson stated to the Board that the Legislature had made an appropria- 

 tion of $1,000 for an examination of insects, especially of those injurious to 

 vegetation, and authorizing the appointment of a suitable person to perform the 

 work. 



On motion of Mr. Johnson, it was 



Resolved, That Asa Fitch, M. D., of Washington county, be appointed to per- 

 form the work, and that he be furnished with such accommodations as he may 

 desire, in the rooms appointed for the laboratory, in charge of the Society, and 



*This does not appear in the separate editions of the Report subsequently published. 



