THE 



fra^tkal ®itt0m0l00fei 



A MONTHLY BULLETIN, 



Published by the Entomological Society of Philadelphia, for gratuitous distribution 

 among Farmers and Agriculturists. 



Vol. I. 



NOVEMBER 27, 1865. 



No. 2, 



Wxt ^raclitnl (Knt0mi)lai|ifjt. 



PHILADELPHIA, NOVEMBER 27, 1865. 

 INSECTS AND THE CHOLEBA. 



The appearance of epidemic disease in Europe 

 has turned the attention of the fearful among its 

 inhabitants to the features presented by that Insect 

 Life which always surrounds them, cholera or no 

 cholera, but which, to their imaginations, are novel 

 and concomitant with the disease now raging among 

 them. We find the following in the columns of a 

 late European newspaper : 



"The northern departments of France are at this mo- 

 ment suffering from a pest which to them is about as dis- 

 astrous as an invasion of locusts in Southern latitudes. 

 Vast and innumerable swarms of lepidopterous insects, 

 belonging to the family of Noctuidae, will settle down on 

 a field of beet, and not leavfe it as long as there is still a 

 fibre of the root left. Fire, acids, and every other power- 

 ful agent have been tried against them in vain; notwith- 

 standing the most unremitting toil and care the insect 

 multiplies to an alarming extent, so as to threaten the 

 total destruction of beet, endive and cabbages, fortunately 

 the only vegetables it chooses to attack." 



These lepidoptera could only be destructive to 

 the vegetation in their larval state, when their jaws 

 or maxillae are adapted to the mastication of those 

 plants which constitute their entire food. In this 

 state they do not fly, but are crawling, worm-like 

 bodies or caterpillars. In the " perfect" or " moth" 

 state the maxillae are developed into spiral tongue- 

 like processes, through which, as through a tube or 

 sucker, they imbibe the various juices which con- 

 stitute their sole nourishment. The amount of food 

 taken by Butterflies and Moths in their perfect 

 states bears no proportion to the quantities which 

 their larvae or caterpillars consume. 



But we shall be able to draw a timely lesson from 



the apprehensions of Europe at this time, if we dis- 

 card from our minds the fear that the prevalence 

 of insects is a prognostic of disease, so that, if the 

 cholera does visit our shores, we need not add to 

 our causes of apprehension should our noxious in- 

 sects be tolerably plenty next year, as, indeed, they 

 always are in a greater or less degree. 



Fear is a great detriment to a healthful body, 

 and brings its own punishment in the greater liabi- 

 lity of those who entertain it to take the very dis- 

 ease which they frightenedly seek to avoid. Let 

 us then not be alarmed at anything we may see in 

 the multiplication of insects next year, and be con- 

 fident that had we only looked in years past, we 

 should have seen the same destruction, so that we 

 can firmly await the dispensations of a kind Provi- 

 dence, undisturbed by auguries of evil, and with a 

 calmness which has its origin in our own common 

 sense and in a knowledge that " He does not will- 

 ingly aflSict or grieve the children of men." 



Now that the altars of the Summer are laid bare, 

 the charred remains of their offerings after the 

 October blaze swept away, their votary, the " z — 

 ing" Cicada, long ceased his ministrations — we can 

 meditate through these coming sleepful Winter 

 months on the means to protect our crops next 

 season, and be ready with intellect to circumvent 

 physical agencies. Still, ere we set our brains to 

 work to destroy, let us think a little on what is 

 created by a kind Master for our use and enjoy- 

 ment in Insects. Of old the poet has sung of the 

 Cicada or " locust" : "Almost thou art like unto 

 the gods," -and rightly, for to the idea of etherial 

 immortality expressed by the butterfly, it seems to 

 add supernatural power by its cry. Ask of it. 



