ENTOMOLOGY. 361 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



BY PROF. F. n. SNOW, KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY, LAWRENCE. 



Entomology, or the science of insects, has even in recent times been re- 

 garded with disfavor. Not more than forty years ago the distinguished M, 

 itenous was arrested and brought to trial by the authorities of St. Fernando- 

 in Chili, upon the charge of witchcraft, because he kept certain caterpillars 

 which turned into butterflies. Nearer home within the past three years, an 

 essayist before the Kansas State Teachers' Association denounced the waste 

 of time by young people in the pursuit of butterflies. During my own fre- 

 quent excursions with long-handled net, cyanide-bottle, empty cigar-box and 

 other collecting apparatus, I invariably encountered the astonished stare and 

 incredulous smile of passers-by, who often seem to doubt the sanity of a man 

 who deliberately devotes his time to "catching bugs." But it is not neces- 

 sary before an intelligent audience to defend a science which has so intimate- 

 a connection with the professions of agriculture and horticulture. 



This science embraces a broader field than any other department of Zo- 

 ology. This is made clear when we consider that of the 250,000 living species 

 included in the animal kingdom about 200,000 species or four-fifths of the 

 whole belong to the single class of insects. The history of this immense array 

 of living creatures is yet to be written. Comparatively little is known of 

 the transformations and habits of the vast majority of insects. 



A complete work on Entomology, which should devote but a single page 

 to each species would occupy nearly 300 volumes of the size of our Ameri- 

 can Cyclopaedia. Yet the celebrated Straus Durckheim devoted seven years- 

 to the study of a single species of beetle and embodied his results in a vol- 

 ume which will constitute a perpetual monument to the genius of its author. 



Of the 200,000 species of insects thus far discovered upon our globe, some 

 50,000 are found in the United States, and it may be safely estimated that 

 10,000 species occur within the boundaries of the State of Kansas. 



The impression exists among many that all insects are injurious, and the 

 best friends of the farmer and fruit grower are too often destroyed by those 

 whose zeal would be profitably mingled with knowledge. Of the benefits 

 conferred by insects we may note the following : 



1. The removal of offensive material from the face of the globe. Whole 

 families of insects act as scavengers to purify the earth and air. Let an ani- 

 mal die and the mimic beetles and the skin beetles remove its dormal cov- 

 ering, thus allowing the army of flies to deposit their eggs within the flesh.. 

 Within five days all the softer material is removed and still other species, 

 attack the more obdurate portions of the carcass. 



