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INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

 By W. F. FiSKE. 



In 1837 a commission established by the State of Massachusetts to conduct a 

 botanical and zoological survey was instructed by Governor Everett in the following 

 terms : — 



" It is presumed to have been a leading object of the Legislature, in authorizing 

 this survey, to promote the agricultural benefit of the Commonwealth, and you will 

 keep carefully in view the economical relations of every subject of your inquiry. 

 By this, however, it is not intended that scientific order, method or comprehension 

 should be departed from. At the same time that which is practically useful will 

 receive a proportionately greater share of attention than that which is merely curious ; 

 the promotion of comfort and happiness being the great human end of all science." 



Dr. Thaddeus William Harris, librarian of Harvard College, and an amateur ento- 

 mologist of unusual understanding, was asked to survey and to report upon the insect 

 fauna of the State. At that time the majority of the species were undescribed, and 

 the task was stupendous. To quote his own words :— 



" I was deterred from attempting to describe all these insects by the magnitude 

 o"f the undertaking, and by the consideration that such a work, much as it might 

 promote the cause of science, if well done, could not be expected to prove interesting 

 or particularly useful to the great body of the people. The subject and plan of my 

 report were suggested by the instructions of the Governor, and by the want of a work 

 combining scientific and practical details on the natural history of our noxious insects. 

 From among such of the latter as are injurious to plants I selected for description 

 chiefly those which were remarkable for their size, for the peculiarity of their structure 

 and habits, or for the extent of their ravages ; and these alone will be seen to con- 

 stitute a formidable host. As they are found, not only in Massachusetts, but 

 throughout New England, and indeed in most parts of the United States, the propriety 

 of giving to the work a more comprehensive title than it first bore becomes apparent." 



The title finally selected was " A Treatise on some of the Insects Injurious to 

 Vegetation." The treatise itself was the first considerable contribution to the 

 literature of economic entomology in America in which any attempt was made (to 

 quote again the words of His Excellency, Gov. Everett) to keep " carefully in view 

 the economical relations of the subject" without " departing from scientific order, 

 method and comprehension." It represents the corner stone in the foundation of the 

 modern science of economic entomology. 



In the all too brief introductory paragraphs Dr. Harris defines the aims and scope 

 of economic entomology in the following words :— 



" The benefits which we derive from insects, though neither few in number nor 

 inconsiderable in amount, are, if we except those of the silk-worm, the bee and the 

 cochineal, not very obvious, and are almost entirely beyond our influence. On the 

 contrary, the injuries that we suffer from them are becoming yearly more apparent, 

 and are more or less within our control. A familiar acquaintance with our insect 

 enemies and friends, in all their forms and disguises, will afford us much help in the 



