102 DR. HARRIS'S REPORT. April, 



without injuring the plants. The solution may be made by dissolv- 

 ing one pound of hard soap in twelve gallons of the soap-suds left af- 

 ter washing. This mixture should be applied twice a day with a 

 water-pot. 



The insects, whose habits I have now attempted to describe, are 

 but a very small number of those, belonging to the order Coleoptera^ 

 which are injurious to vegetation. I have selected chiefly such as 

 are the most remarkable, and as would best serve to illustrate the 

 different families and genera to which they belong. Seven more or- 

 ders remain to be treated in the same way, to carry out the plan 

 upon which this report has been begun. Probably none of them 

 will require to be considered so much in detail as this order, which 

 presents a greater variety in the forms and habits of tlie individuals 

 included in it, as well as a much greater number of species, than all 

 the other orders. If, however, you take into consideration the de- 

 vastations of grasshoppers, bugs, plant-lice, locusts or cicadse, slugs, 

 caterpillars, and maggots, you will readily perceive, that ample ma- 

 terials for another report are still left. 



It is well known, that there is no work, in our language, on this 

 branch of natural history, either scientific or popular, which will 

 serve as a manual or introduction to the knowledge o( our own insects. 

 Detached descriptions there are, it is true ; but they are available 

 only to a (ew persons, and not to the great body of the people. 

 Most of the works on Entomology, in America, consist of short trea- 

 tises, compilations, or abridgments, originally published in England, 

 and adapted exclusively to that country. Many of the most valuable 

 publications on this subject are very expensive, and are wholly be- 

 yond the means of persons of moderate income ; many, also, are 

 printed in languages which are not generally understood by us. 

 Even these, valuable and essential as they are to the professed Ento- 

 mologist, would not supply the particular wants of our own country- 

 men. It is greatly to be regretted, furthermore, that our public li- 

 braries are so deficient in works on this branch of science. In these 

 repositories of learning, we ought to find all the larger, more expen- 

 sive, and general works, which are necessary for the illustration of 

 every department of science. A scholar can no more labor in his 

 peculiar vocation without books, than a mechanic can without tools ; 



