H\RRi E Nc?Tox] ETHNOZOOLOGY OF THE TEWA INDIANS 57 



to other animals, and the exceedingly large number of known species 

 give them zoological prominence. Their relations to the pollenization 

 of plants and their destructiveness to vegetation give them both 

 botanical and economic importance. Their relation to the spread of 

 disease and the annoying habits of some of them have a direct bearing 

 on the comfort and happiness of the human race. 



From the ethnological point of view the position of insects is a 

 minor one. They have little importance as food, except the grass 

 hoppers, etc., during seasons of abundance. Among native peoples 

 of the lower Colorado Valley insects have acquired considerable relig 

 ious and mythical significance, especially the ants, but this does not 

 require a knowledge of many species or a very minute discrimination 

 between species. Among the Pueblos they have no such significance. 

 A great number of insect species have been recorded from the Jemez 

 Plateau and Santa Fe. There are doubtless hundreds of others unre 

 corded, including many now undescribed and unknown to science. 

 As most of the smaller species are distinguished from one another by 

 characters which may be studied only with a good lens or a micro 

 scope, it is obvious that in most cases the Indians can not distin 

 guish the species or even the genera. However, the larger and more 

 conspicuously marked species are likely given definite native names. 

 It would be an interesting contribution to the psychology of the 

 Indians for someone with sufficient entomological training to investi 

 gate their knowledge of and ideas concerning the insects and the 

 extent and accuracy of their discrimination, including the habits of 

 insects and their relations to plants. 



Time did not permit us to enter into this field except in an incidental 

 way in connection with the ethnobotanical work. Our collections 

 of insects were accidentally almost wholly destroyed in transit, with 

 out having been determined or recorded, so that we can not even 

 give an account of the species found. We found many species of 

 beetles, ants, bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, flies, and other insects. 



It does not seem important in this report to list the species of 

 insects recorded from the region by Ashmead, Banks, Cockerell, 

 Coquillett, Dunning, Fall, Fox, Gillette, Hagen, Holland, Howard, 

 Hulst, Mead, Scudder, Thomas, Townsend, Uhler, Ulke, and Wheeler. 

 More than 30 of Prof. CockerelTs papers report species from this 

 region. Ulke has recorded 56 species of Coleoptera (beetles), and 

 Uhler has recorded 34 species of Hemiptera (plant-lice, scale insects, 

 true bugs, etc.) from San Ildefonso, Taos, Santa Fe, Abiquiu, and 

 Tierra Amarilla. Hagen recorded three species of Neuroptera from 

 San Ildefonso, Tierra Amarilla, and Taos. Most of the other records 

 are from Santa Fe. 



Work along this line could be easily done by persons with very 

 limited knowledge of entomology. They could collect the insects 



