N.S. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Body vermin carry the dreaded typus and plague. The glory that was 

 Greece and the grandeur that was Rome, it is now claimed were de- 

 stroyed really by the malaria infected mosquitoes introduced about then 

 time of the Persian and Punic invasions. Xerxes and Hannibal and 

 their myrmidons could be repulsed but the insidious Anopheles was then 

 unrecognized and therefore irresistible. They sapped the blood not only 

 of the mighty men of war, but the energy and genius of the artists, of the 

 orators, of the intellectuals, and of the common laborer. 



It is knowledge gives us power. The greatest forces in the world 

 are often the invisibly small; and so long as we do not know them, and 

 how and when they act, we are as h( lpless as inert matter. It is only a 

 knowledge of the truth which can give us a chance of freedom from the 

 effects of a noxious environment. 



In no department of the study of nature is there an easier and more 

 interesting introduction to the understanding of the character and 

 power of what we call the laws of nature and of life than in the study of the 

 insects around us everywhere. When we know enough, we can check 

 their development at their critical stages; or can set insects to fight in- 

 sects for us. In this latter direction some of our most valuable discoveries 

 are being made. To every one, a working knowledge of entomology is 

 valuable first, as an insight into the physical and biological nature of the 

 world in which we live; and secondly, to save our labor, our health, and 

 our lives, from our natural enemies. 



No subject is more convenient for school room hints. No subject 

 more interesting after pupils once learn how to observe and demonstrate 

 things for themselves, just as the men did who found things out before 

 the books themselves were written. But the book will be useful in start- 

 ing both teachers and pupils to observe, by giving them hints as to how to 

 start — for that, and for little more, it should be remembered. 



From my own experience, which has given me a great deal of educa- 

 tive pleasure, I can recommend every teacher to try membership in the 

 Nova Scotian Branch of the Ontario Entomological Club. 



