58 



the story adds, " No effect whatever resulted, evidently on account of 

 the great depravity of the people." In various other lawsuits the 

 chroniclers fail to mention the final outcome; but, says Hagen, it is 

 safe to surmise that in the whole history of jurisprudence there was 

 never a greater disregard of the rulings of the courts on the part of 

 the guilty parties than during the time of the mediaeval insect commis- 

 sions. 



To attempt to enumerate the different commissions which have been 

 established, particularly by European countries, against particular out 

 breaks of injurious insects, and' especially against locusts, which have 

 entered Europe from the south and from the west at intervals for many 

 hundreds of years, would be impossible, and even if possible, would 

 extend this paper far beyond its proper length. I shall be obliged, 

 therefore, to neglect this phase of the subject, and confine myself 

 rather to the history of the more prominent organizations of wider 

 scope, and these I shall treat geographically and chronologically, 

 beginning with our own country. 



THE UNITED STATES. 



Massachusetts. — Dr. Thaddeus William Harris was probably the 

 first American entomologist to receive public compensation for his 

 labors, and in this sense he maybe called the first of the official ento- 

 mologists in this country. In 1831 he prepared a catalogue of insects, 

 appended to Hitchcock's Massachusetts Geological Report. "In the 

 condition of American science at that day," says Scudder, "it was a 

 work of inestimable value, though his only material compensation was 

 one copy of the report and several copies of the appendix." At a later 

 period he was appointed by the State as one of a commission for a 

 more thorough geological and botanical survey. In this capacity he 

 prepared his now classic report on insects injurious to vegetation, first 

 published in full in 1841, the jDortion upon beetles having appeared in 

 1838. He reprinted the work under the name "Treatise" instead of 

 "Eeport" in 1842, and again, in revised form, in 1852. The whole sum 

 received by him from the State for this labor was $175. After his death 

 the work was reprinted by the State in its present beautiful form, with 

 wood engravings which themselves marked an epoch in that art. It 

 is largely upon this work that Harris' scientific reputation will rest, 

 and, although prepared more than half a century ago, it is today per- 

 haps above all other works the vade mecum of the working entomolo- 

 gist wlio resides in the northeastern section of the country. 



From 1852 to 1870 Massachusetts did little or nothing in economic 

 entomology. In the latter year, however, Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., then 

 of Salem, was appointed entomologist to the State board of agricul- 

 ture — without compensation, however, as he informs me. Dr. Packard 

 published three reports covering the years 1871, 1872, and 1873. They 



