WHAT IS ENTOMOLOGY? 



By Lee A, Strong 



Chief, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture 



[With 16 plates] 



What is entomology? Webster says, "Entomology is the depart- 

 ment of zoology that treats of insects; also a treatise on that subject." 

 How does the particular department of zoology referred to treat of 

 insects? Treating of insects takes on many forms. It has many 

 ramifications. It affects many people. It afl'ects the health, the 

 comfort, the well-being, and fortunes of as many individuals in the 

 world as perhaps any other applied science. 



In species and kinds insects outnumber most, if not all, groups of 

 living organisms. There are known more than 700,000 kinds of 

 described and named insects in the world. There are 75,000 kinds 

 so reported from North America north of Mexico. Of the 75,000 

 kinds in North America there are estimated to be 6,500 kinds of insects 

 wliich are so injurious to agriculture in the United States that records 

 of their occurrence are consistently reported to the Insect Pest Survey. 

 It is obvious, therefore, that while entomology treats of insects, an 

 entomologist can in reason treat only of a comparatively few species 

 of insects. In schools the teachers can teach the students only the 

 principles of the science and general fundamentals of insect structure, 

 classification, physiology, habits, and general distribution, leaving 

 the student to specialize in the group of insects or branch of entomolog- 

 ical work desired after graduation in the securing of degrees, in teach- 

 ing, or in employment. 



First, in our work we must know what insects are, and taxonomy 

 is really one of the important points in treating of insects. The study 

 and interpretation of structural characters for the purpose of classi- 

 fication and identification have a most important place in the science 

 of entomology. For example, the species of Cochliomyia look much 

 alike, particularly the forms commonly called screwworms. Gushing, 

 while worldng on this group with Patton in England, found that 

 what had been considered as one form, C. macellaria, was really 



1 Address given at the Second Florida Entomological Conference, Gainesville, Fla., March 19. 1937. 



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