ANNALS | 20 
OF gal Wee 
The Entomological Society of America 
Volume VIII MARCH. 195 Number | 
THE ECOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF APPLIED 
ENTOMOLOGY.* 
STEPHEN A. FORBES, 
State Entomologist of Illinois. 
It is my pleasing duty first to acknowledge the obligations 
of the economic entomologists of the country to this general 
society of American entomologists for giving this prominent 
place on its annual program to a topic which must, in the 
nature of the case, interest economic entomologists more than 
any one else. This is not by any means wholly an economic 
topic, however. Ecology is a very broad subject, extending 
in all directions far beyond the foundation lines of applied 
entomology; and successful ecological inquiry in the economic 
field, carefully verified as to results, as it must always be for 
practical use, may often suggest and illustrate methods equally 
useful in the other divisions of entomology, and hence of serious 
interest to every entomological specialist who does any thinking 
about his entomology. 
It may well seem, indeed, that this general association of 
entomologists, inclusive of all specialists, is a higher court 
before which to bring our plea for a broadening and strengthen- 
ing of the foundations and a widening of the relations of eco- 
nomic entomology, than an association composed only of 
economic entomologists themselves. There is no real separa- 
tion in this country between economic and non-economic, 
between applied and unapplied, or even inapplicable, entomol- 
ogy. These interests are all so closely related and mutually 
*The Annual Address to the Entomological Society of America, delivered at 
Philadelphia, Pa., December 30, 1914. 
