SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVIII. No, 461 



and its languages had years before been excellently described 

 and studied by Sir George Grey and by Advocate-General 

 Moore; and, from tlieir records, it appeared that the natives 

 spoke of a spirit, " Mittagong," who, vpas, however, an in- 

 significant demon identified with phosphoric fungus. As for 

 "Chenga," he was not an individual at all. The dead, or 

 the spirits of the dead, were called " djanga," and this word 

 was applied by the savages to the white men, whom they 

 regarded as the spirits of their forefathers returned. This 

 misapplication of the name of a class to a particular person 

 was largely due to the fact that communication between 

 savages and white men was carried on in dog-English, when 

 a few words were strung together without particles or inflec- 

 tions. Thus the savage, living in terror of beings closely 

 •corresponding to our ghosts or demons, learned to use the 

 word "devil'' in connection with them. The white man, 

 accustomed to the ideas of a dominant Satan, wrote the word 

 in his note book with a capital letter, unconscious that he 

 was thus converting the savage's simple belief in spirits into 

 a dualistic religion where a great personal evil was opposed 

 lo the great good being. 



The German Moravian missionaries who went into the^ in- 

 terior of Victoria in 1850 recorded that they found among 

 the natives a belief in a spirit, " Baiame," the creator of all 

 things, who dwelt above the clouds. Mr. W. Howitt also 

 described this " Baiame" as he found him, and gave the fol- 

 lowing account, told by a native sorcerer, who had, accord- 

 ing to custom, gone to ''Baiame" for instruction in the 

 supernatural: " My father had said we will go to ' Baiame's ' 

 camp. He got astride of a thread, and put me on another, 

 and we held by each other's arms. At the end of the two 

 threads was 'Wambu,' the bird of 'Baiame.' We went 

 through the clouds, and on the other side was the sky. We 

 went through the place where the doctors go through, and 

 it kept opening and shutting very quickly. My father said 

 that, if it touched a doctor as he was going through, it would 

 hurt his spirit, and, when he returned home, he would sicken 

 and die. On the other side, we saw ' Baiame' silting in his 

 camp. He was a very great old man, with a long beard. 

 He sat with his legs under him, and from his shoulders ex- 

 tended two great quartz crystals to the sky above him. There 

 were also numbers of the boys of ' Baiame ' and his people, 

 who are birds and beasts." These details were in some re- 

 spects of very native character, while in others recalling con- 

 ventional Christian pictures of the Almighty. 



After adducing other illustrations from the records of ex- 

 plorers in Australia and Tasmania, Dr. Taylor concluded his 

 paper by saying that, in examining a good many savage re- 

 ligions, he had come to the same result. In the religion of 

 tbe lower races the civilized observer found himself on a 

 familiar ground among ghosts, fairies, devils, and deities of 

 the sky, of the sun, and of the river. Therefore, native re- 

 ligions extended to the distinct appreciation of gods of high 

 rank in a polytheistic system ; but to go one step further, and 

 to look for any ideas of one supreme good being and one 

 potent evil being, was to get beyond the religion of the lower 

 races altogether. 



AGEICULTURAL LOSSES FEOM INSECTS.' 



At the last meeting of the association, in Champaign, 111., 

 I had the honor of a conversation with assistant recretary, 

 the Hon. Edwin Willits, and he mentioned that he was 

 frequently asked for information as to the advisability of 



^ From address of James Fletcher, president, at the third annual meeting 

 of ttie Association of Economic En'omologlsts. 



large expenditures for entomological purposes, and that, 

 although entomologists frequently spoke of the large losses 

 from insects, we did not provide, politicians — and particu- 

 larly himself — with data by which they could explain and 

 justify these expenditures, which those who understood them 

 knew to be of such enormous importance, and when we 

 wished to point out the great injuries done by insects we had 

 to go back continuously to old published records which we 

 had all been quoting for upwards of ten or twenty years. 

 Now we find upon investigation that accurate estimates of 

 damage done by insects are exceedingly difficult to arrive at, 

 and the figures are so large that we are rather afraid to quote 

 them ourselves lest we should prevent rather than encourage 

 investigation, and it has been the custom of entomologists to 

 minimize the estimates for fear they should not be believed. 

 Now the necessity has arisen, I think, and I lay it before the 

 association for action, in the direction of gathering together 

 some reliable recent statistics in a short form which may be 

 printed for distribution, and which will cover the more im- 

 portant injuries to date, and the part the work of the ento- 

 mologist has played in reducing injury or preventing loss, 

 so that we may overcome this difficulty and provide legis- 

 lators and ourselves with data with which to meet this argu- 

 ment. After a careful examination and great effort to obtain 

 data I have found that there are certain of these large esti- 

 mates which appear to be reliable. I think better results 

 will follow the publication of a few quite reliable statistics, 

 which may be taken as typical instances, than by accumu- 

 lating a large number of items which would increase the 

 chance of error and might not be read so carefully. By way 

 of example, I will refer to the chinch bug. I have examined 

 carefully the estimates which have been published concern- 

 ing that particular insect, and the following are probably 

 quite reliable and appear to have been made with due regard 

 to all collateral considerations, as the increased value of the 

 saved crops, the cost of remedial measures, and similar sub- 

 jects. 



In 1861 Dr. Shimer's estimate, which I find was drawn up 

 with very great care, put the loss in the one State of Illinois 

 to the corn and grain crops at §73,000,000. In Dr. Riley's 

 "Reports on the Injurious Insects of Missouri," we find in 

 1874 there was a reliable estimate of the loss to that State by 

 the same insect of ^19,000,000 In 1887 Professor Osboru's 

 estimate, founded upon the reports of the correspondents of 

 the State Agricultural Society of Iowa, put the loss in that 

 State on corn and grain at $25,000,000; and, last, Mr. How- 

 ard's estimate, as given in the entomologist's report for 1887, 

 for the nine States infested by the chinch bug in that year, 

 was $60,000,000. 



Now, gentlemen, I think that these statistics of the injuries 

 to crops by one insect alone are probably as reliable as any 

 we can get, and they give a good argument which we may 

 use as showing the depredations of insects; but it is not suffi- 

 cient that we can convince people that great injury is going 

 on, we must show that we are doing something to mitigate 

 this injury. In Professor Comstock's report for 1879 the 

 estimate of the possible loss in years of general prevalence 

 of the cotton Aletia is placed at $30,000,000 through the cot- 

 ton States. The injuries by grasshoppers in the different 

 States of the Union, and also occasionally through the British 

 North American provinces, have been so enormous that fig- 

 ures hardly give an idea of the injury they do, but they are 

 known by all to be enormous. 



As an instance, however, of what may be done to mitigate 

 their attacks, I would merely mention those for this year, 



