OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 51 



after all, however, very imperfect. As Sir Joseph Banks 

 had never seen the Hessian fly, nor was it described in 

 any entomological system, he called for facts respecting 

 its nature, propagation, and economy, which could be had 

 only from America. These were obtained as speedily 

 as possible, and consist of numerous letters from in- 

 dividuals ; essays from magazines ; the reports of the 

 British minister there, &c. &c. One would have sup- 

 posed that from these statements, many of them drawn 

 up by farmers who had lost entire crops by the insect, 

 which they profess to have examined in every stage, the 

 requisite information might have been acquired. So far 

 however was this from being the case, that many of the 

 writers seem ignorant whether the insect be a moth, a 

 fly, or what they term a bug. And though from the con- 

 current testimony of several its being a two-winged fly 

 seemed pretty accurately ascertained, no intelligible de- 

 scription is given, from which any naturalist can infer to 

 what genus it belongs, or whether it is a known species. 

 With regard to the history of its propagation and eco- 

 nomy the statements were so various and contradictory, 

 that though he had such a mass of materials before him, 

 Sir Joseph Banks was unable to reach any satisfactory 

 conclusion. 



Nothing can more incontrovertibly demonstrate the 

 importance of studying Entomology as a science than 

 this fact. Those observations, to which thousands of un- 

 scientific sufferers proved themselves incompetent, would 

 have been readily made by one entomologist well versed 

 in his science. He would at once have determined the 

 order and genus of the insect, and whether it was a known 

 or new species ; and in a twelvemonth at furthest he 



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