144 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



stroyed by a host of new enemies of the insect 

 world, the species of which he has never before seen, 

 and against which, in consequence, he knows not 

 how to proceed. He is, in fact, thrown upon his 

 own resources ; and if he has not a sufficient know- 

 ledge of natural history to enable him to reason 

 upon the facts before him, or to direct him how to 

 proceed, he suffers the full extent of evils which 

 might otherwise have been mitigated or prevented. 

 (87.) How continually are the nurserymen and 

 gardeners of this country complaining of extensive 

 damage done to their crops and their fruit-trees by 

 different species of insects ! Yet these very insects 

 from being called by vulgar provincial names, are 

 almost totally unknown to naturalists, who cannot, 

 therefore, supply that information which is desired 

 It is surely not too much to expect that a gardener 

 should be able to tell the difference between a beetle 

 and a fly ; between an insect with four wings, and 

 one without. Yet so little has this information 

 been thought of among the generality of this pro- 

 fession, that not one in twenty has any knowledge 

 on the subject. Country gentlemen complain of 

 their fruit being devoured by birds, and orders are 

 given for an indiscriminate destruction of birds- 

 nests : the sparrows, more especially, are persecuted 

 without mercy, as being the chief aggressors ; while 

 the Robin redbreast, conceived to be the most inno- 

 cent inhabitant of the garden, is fostered and pro- 

 tected. Now, a little acquaintance with the natural 

 history of these two birds would set their characters, 

 in opposite lights. The sparrows, more especially 



