l893-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 47 



DEPARTMENT OF EGONOMIG ENTOMOLOGY. 



Edited by Prof. JOHN B. SMITH, Sc D., New Brunswick, N. J. 



Common Injnrions Insects of Kansas, is the title of a 126-page pamphlet, 

 by Vernon L. Kellogg, M. S., issued at the University of Kansas. It is 

 prefaced by a very brief and very general account of the life-history of 

 an insect, and the division into biting and sucking forms is made. Four 

 pages treat of the more usual insecticides and their range, and less than 

 two pages are devoted to "spraying and dusting." Then follow the ac- 

 counts of the injurious insects, grouped under the crops attacked by them 

 and in the order of their importance; thus the Chinch bug appropriately 

 heads the list. 



The treatment of each species is necessarily brief, and the remedies to 

 be adopted are also very briefly mentioned. In all, fifty-nine species are 

 described, and these are illustrated by sixty-one figures. To each account 

 " Kansas Notes" are added, referring to observations made in that State. 

 The pamphlet will be very useful, no doubt, and forms a convenient little 

 book for farmers and fruit growers to have about. It has one disadvantage^ 

 common to all publications of that character, it becomes antiquated in 

 large part with such astonishing rapidity. Already, when just off the 

 press, I note that, for some insects, better and more practical or effective 

 means have been recommended than those mentioned in the book; and 

 yet I have no doubt it represents in most cases the state of our knowledge 

 when it was dated, less than three months ago. Of the illustrations, a 

 fair proportion are the well known and always excellent figures from Dr. 

 Riley's Reports; a few are from other sources, but perhaps the majority 

 are original, or are re-drawn. Line has been used almost exclusively, and 

 the result is not good in most cases. All the re-drawn figures are inferior 

 to the originals, and the new figures, while recognizable in most cases, 

 leave much to be desired. 



Digestive System of Orthoptera.— Some words in Mr. Kellogg's intro- 

 ductory remarks give food for thought. He says: "For the intelligent 

 application of insecticides (insect-killing substances), some little should 

 be known of the general economy of insect life, and that little may be 

 briefly told." But is this really true ? Can there be any really intelligent 

 application of insecticides without a great deal more knowledge than can 

 be " briefly told;" and after all, do the teachers themselves know exactly 

 what to do in all cases; or do they always know exactly how insecticides 

 act, and why they will act in one case and not in another. Why hellebore,. 

 for instance, is specific for one series of insects and absolutely ineffective 

 as against others equally exposed and without greater apparent means 

 of resistance. There comes in, also, a very important factor: the deter- 

 mination of the author of the mischief. However easy this may be to 

 the trained observer, it is sometimes very difficult to one that does not 



