52 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED- 



that they were at length enabled to form some kind of 

 judgement on the subject. This judgement was after 

 all, however, very imperfect. As Sir Josepli Banks had 

 never seen the Hessian fly, nor was it described in any 

 entomological system, he called for facts respecting its 

 nature, propagation, and economy, which could be had 

 only from America. These were obtained as speedily 

 as possible, and consist of numerous letters from indi- 

 viduafs ; essays from magazines ; the reports of the 

 British minister there, &c. &c. One would have sup- 

 posed that from these statements, many of them drawn 

 up by farmers who had lost entire crops by the insect, 

 which they profess to have examined in every stage, 

 the requisite information might have been acquired. 

 So far however was this from being the case, that many 

 of the writers seem ignorant whether the insect be a 

 moth, a fly, or what they term a bug. And though 

 from the concurrent testimony of several its being a 

 two-winged fly seemed pretty accurately ascertained, 

 no intelligible description is given, from which any 

 naturalist can infer to what genus it belongs, or 

 whether it is a known species. With regard to the 

 history of its propagation and economy the statements 

 were so various and contradictory, that though he had 

 such a mass of materials before him. Sir Joseph Banks 

 was unable to reach any satisfactory conclusion. 



Nothing can more incontrovertibly demonstrate the 

 importance of studying Entomology as a science than 

 this fact. Those observations, to which thousands of 

 unscientific sufferers proved themselves incompetent, 

 would have been readily made by one entomologist 

 well versed in his science. He would at once have 



