B. C. ENTOMOLOGICAL PROCEEDINGS, 1912. 37 



used by semi-civilized people as food. The great New Testament prophet 

 John the Baptist is reputed to have subsisted on an exclusively insecti- 

 vorous diet — locusts and wild honey. The eggs of a water bug, 

 Corixa, in Mexico, are said to be much relished by the natives of that 

 country. The manna upon which the Children of Israel fed on their 

 long journey through the wilderness on the way to the Land of Promise 

 is said to have been the secretion of a scale insect, and it seems safe to 

 say, that in the insect world are to be found many undeveloped culinary 

 possibilities, only awaiting exploitation. 



The subject of insects as food for fishes is a separate study in itself. 

 In this capacity insects are of considerable indirect benefit to man. 



Still another way must be mentioned in which insects are useful 

 to man. Even the injurious forms are not an unmixed evil. They 

 may stimulate the farmer to more careful methods of culture. They 

 may force him into a systematic crop rotation, which otherwise, to the 

 detriment of his soil, he would not follow. A prominent fruit grower 

 once told me that the advent of the San Jose scale to his district was 

 the best thing that ever happened it, for it drove the lazy and careless 

 men out of the business and enabled the careful growers to make some 

 profit for their pains. There is undoubtedly something in this attitude. 

 Though it is no argument in favour of letting foreign pests gain a 

 foothold in our orchards, still it is encouraging to note that even the 

 worst of them have been brought under control by the methods of 

 modern applied entomology. 



I am well aware that the facts that I have here brought to your 

 attention are already well known to all of you. Nevertheless, the subject 

 of pests looms so large in our daily horizon, that at least it will do 

 no harm to review in this way the other side of the question. So that 

 while we strive by every means in our power to rid the country of its 

 injurious forms, we do not forget that many of our humble insect 

 friends are doing their best in a quiet way to make the world a better 

 place for man to live. 



Mr. Treherne — The principles of entomology relating to insect 

 parasitism ranks in the forefront of entomological practice today. I 

 fully expect to see the day when our systems of spraying will be reduced 

 and our principles of breeding and distributing insect parasites will be 

 increased. The greatest movement in the past few years has taken 

 place with imported parasites of imported insects, but I believe we will 

 see the day when more use will be made of such native parasites as we 

 have. Spraying at the best is an unnatural process, but we dare not at 

 the present day advocate otherwise. 



