542 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 94.. 



of the Christian era, has given much of in- 

 terest concerning the work of insects and 

 the methods of destroying them adopted in 

 those times. In the eleventh book of this 

 work, p. 327, it is stated that if the spring be 

 wet and rainy the eggs of the locust, which 

 have remained in the ground during the 

 winter, perish and do not hatch. Pliny 

 further says that whole armies of locusts 

 often came from Africa into Italy, and many 

 a time the people of Rome, fearing a famine, 

 had recourse to the Sibylline books for a 

 remedy and to avert the wrath of the gods. 

 These books were supposed to contain the 

 fate of the Roman Empire. In the Cyre- 

 nian province of Barbary it was ordered by 

 law that all the inhabitants should wage 

 war against the locusts, first by hunting for 

 their eggs and crushing them, second by 

 killing the young, and lastly by destroying 

 the adults. A severe punishment was in- 

 flicted on those who neglected to perform 

 this duty. On the island of Stalimni it was 

 determined just what quantity each man 

 should kill, and the full measure was re- 

 quired to be exhibited to the magistrate. 

 The people made much account of the as- 

 sistance rendered by the jays and other birds 

 in destroying the locusts. This account 

 given by Pliny is the earliest concerning 

 the enactment of laws for the destruction 

 of insects that I have anywhere found. 



This is more in accordance with our 

 modern ideas on economic entomology than 

 the remedy given by Cato for caterpillars 

 on fruit trees, which was to moisten the 

 tips of the twigs with the gall of a green 

 lizard, or the remedy for canker worms 

 given by Pliny, which was to hang the 

 bones of a mare's head on the pales around 

 the garden. He emphasizes the fact that 

 the bones must be those of a female, as 

 those of the male would prove of no avail. 

 It appears that the common people needed 

 special cautioning in these matters in the 

 days of Pliny just as they do to-day. 



In the twenty-fifth book, chapter five, 

 Pliny says that if white hellebore be pow-^ 

 dered and put into milk all the flies that 

 eat of it will be destroyed. This is the 

 earliest mention I have found of the use of 

 white hellebore as an insecticide. I do not 

 know who claims the honor of the discovery 

 of hellebore as an insecticide in modem 

 times. 



The next account in order of time that I 

 have been able to find is given by Berg in 

 his History of the German Forests. In the 

 year 875 hosts of grasshoppers appeared on 

 the Rhine and destroyed all the grass and 

 grain. The remedies employed for their 

 destruction were by the priests, who went 

 in procession around the infested fields, 

 carrying holy relics and making interces- 

 sory prayers, 'but,' adds the chronicler, 'it 

 was of no avail.' This was said to be the 

 oldest record to be found of methods of treat- 

 ing insects in German lands, and was taken 

 from the Bavarian chronicle of Aventinus. 



During the Middle Ages lamentations 

 over the destructive ravages of different 

 species of insects are of frequent occur- 

 rence in many chronicles of those times. 

 The means used for the destruction of in- 

 sects were all, so far as we can learn, of a 

 spiritual nature. In the fourteenth cen- 

 tury Uhland, in his contributions to the 

 history of poetry and legend, relates that 

 the Bishops of Chur and Lausanne pro- 

 nounced the anathema over grasshoppers 

 and other insects. At one time a thorough- 

 going procedure, according to all the rules 

 of jurisprudence, occurred before the spirit- 

 ual judge. The accused insects were sum- 

 moned, and in case of non-appearance, 

 which always occurred unless the insects 

 were moving to new feeding grounds and 

 the court house happened to be in their 

 way, a proxy was appointed to represent 

 the accused insects, who debated the whole 

 subject with the accuser, after which judg- 

 ment was rendered, invariably against the 



