OUR INSECT FRIENDS 

 AND FOES. 



CHAPTER * ~ \ 3 \'S :<'* ; 

 THE STUDY OF INSECT LIFE 



THE study of insect life, whether practised as 

 a hobby or a profession, will be found to 

 be one of the most fascinating and absorbingly 

 interesting branches of Natural Science. There 

 is always something fresh to be learned, some 

 new aspect of the subject to be investigated ; 

 while from New Year's Day to New Year's Eve, 

 in nearly every quarter of the habitable globe, 

 active insect life abounds, offering an unceasing 

 supply of material for observation and investi- 

 gation. Up to a comparatively recent date, the 

 economic study of insect life was almost en- 

 tirely confined to the investigation of those 

 insects which are injurious to agriculture and 

 horticulture ; truly valuable work, for, unless 

 held in check, these agricultural insect pests 

 would so quickly multiply that our food crops 

 would be seriously endangered. Of the ravages 

 caused by these all-devouring insect foes, we 

 shall learn something in a subsequent section of 

 this book. 



