420 ENTOMOLOGY 



tivated species, particularly millet, Hungarian grass, rice, wheat, 

 barley, rye and corn. In fact, the worst corn insects, such as the chinch 

 bug, wireworms, white grubs and cutworms, are species derived from 

 wild grasses. 



Even in the absence of cultivated plants their insect pests continue 

 to sustain themselves upon wild plants, as a rule; the larva of the 

 codling moth, for example, is very common in wild apples and wild 

 haws. 



The Economic Entomologist/ To mitigate the tremendous dam- 

 age done by insects, the individual cultivator is almost helpless without 

 expert advice, and the immense agricultural interests of this country 

 have necessitated the development of the economic entomologist, the 

 value of whose services is universally appreciated by the intelligent. 



Almost every State now has one or more economic entomologists, 

 responsible to the State or else to a State Experiment Station, while the 

 general Government attends to general entomological needs in the most 

 comprehensive and thorough manner. 



"It is the special object of the economic entomologist," says Dr. 

 Forbes, "to investigate the conditions under which these enormous 

 losses of the food and labor of the country occur, and to determine, first, 

 whether any of them are in any degree preventable; second, if so, how 

 they are to be prevented with the least possible cost of labor and money; 

 and, third, to estimate as exactly as possible the expenses of such pre- 

 vention, or to furnish the data for such an estimate, in order that each 

 may determine for himself what is for his interest in every case arising. 



"The subject matter of this science is not insects alone, nor plants 

 alone, nor farming alone. One may be a most excellent entomologist 

 or botanist, or he may have the whole theory and practice of agriculture 

 at his tongue's end, and at his fingers' ends as well, and yet be without 

 knowledge or resources when brought face to face with a new practical 

 problem in economic entomology. The subject is essentially that of 

 the relations of these things to each other; of insect to plant and of plant 

 to insect, and of both these to the purposes and operations of the farm, 

 and it involves some knowledge of all of them. 



"As far as the entomological part of the subject is concerned, the 

 chief requisites are a familiar acquaintance with the common injurious 

 insects, and especially a thorough knowledge of their life histories, to- 

 gether with practical familiarity with methods of entomological study 

 and research. The life histories of insects lie at the foundation of the 

 whole subject of economic entomology; and constitute, in fact, the 



