CHAPTER XIX 



MANKIND AND THE INSECT 



Whether the world was made for man, or man is merely 

 the paramount species in the great concourse of animate 

 beings, is a riddle which has not yet been solved. But 

 there can be no question that for practical purposes man 

 is, and knows himself to be, the " hub of the universe." 

 Thus, to most minds, the chief fascination of entomology 

 consists in the light which is cast upon the relationship of 

 insects to mankind. In the foregoing pages passing refer- 

 ences have been made to the damage done by insects to 

 cultivated plants ; but it is scarcely possible to exaggerate 

 the seriousness of these depredations. The statement has 

 been made that at least ten per cent, of every crop is lost 

 through the attacks of insects, this toll being so constant 

 that it escapes observation ; while when a particular species 

 of pest-insect gains a temporary ascendancy, it not uncom- 

 monly sweeps everything before it. One authority has said 

 that it cost American farmers a larger sum to feed their 

 insect foes than is expended to maintain the whole system 

 of education in the States. In Britain we are less sorely 

 harassed, not from any special dispensation, but because, 

 in the nature of things, insects are more prone to increase 

 beyond bounds in great continental areas than on small 

 islands. Nevertheless, our losses are often very serious. 



Every kind of crop is liable to attack, often by many 

 kinds of insects ; and a given species usually does mischief 

 in a characteristic way. This point may be illustrated by 

 the life-histories of four pests which from time to time 



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