188 INSECT PESTS 



though we cannot win back those which by our neglect 

 or our greed have been for ever lost. 



What then should be done in regard to pests as a whole ? 

 As has been already stated. I do not believe in a general 

 essay at an armed offensive for any particular species. 

 We should by preference endeavour to keep ourselves 

 and our stock, our field and garden crops, as close as 

 possible to natural conditions, and interfere as Httle as 

 possible with the natural balance of life, for there can 

 be no great increase in any one species, be it plant or 

 animal, without a corresponding increase in the control 

 of it in some shape or other. The gist of the matter 

 comes to this, that vigilance, efficiency and naturaliza- 

 tion in all things is the surest guide to a better future. 

 On the other hand, neglect of natural functions, " civilized " 

 abuses which are hurtful organically, and production of 

 abnormal types lead to degeneration and extinction, and 

 without wearying the reader or laying myself open to 

 the charge of much moralizing, I should like to wind up 

 by saying that wherever pests occur, nature study is 

 needed, and a little co-ordination of preventive measures 

 or preventive poUcy as the case may be between man and 

 man will do all that is necessary to prevent a plague. 



On these lines we shall avoid the bald mistake of 

 regarding everything in the insect world as inimical, and 

 also of having included in pest books such a glorious 

 insect as the scarce Tortoiseshell or Elm Butterfly (F. 

 polychloros), a fine specimen of which was once brought 

 to me by a cousin in the early days when I was on the 

 look-out for what is commonly called " beginner's luck." 

 Yet later on I was astonished to see it given in a standard 

 work as a fruit pest ! 



Let our cure be, not the listing of enemies, but the 

 enhsting of friends, coupled with the endeavour to secure 

 personal efficiency for ourselves and our progeny, side 

 by side with the hke efficiency in all the plants and animals 

 that minister to our support. 



The End. 



