The White Grub of the May Beetle, 



Lachnosterna fusca. 



It may safely be asserted that tlie last twenty- five years have 

 been signalized by greater progress than had been made* in the pre- 

 ceding century, in economic entomology — that science that, through 

 the study of insect lives and insect habits, tends to promote the 

 comfort, welfare, happiness, and prosperity of society at large. In 

 every direction it has shown a marked advance — in a knowledge 

 of the insects with which it has to deal, the various insecticides 

 employed for the destruction of injurious species, the mechanical 

 devices used in the application of insecticides, and a wide distribu- 

 tion of the results of the studies, in these several directions, of our 

 ablest entomologists. So marked has been this progress, that I need 

 not at this time dwell upon it, for it must be evident to all who have 

 given the slightest attention to the study. Insect depredations, to 

 an extent elsewhere unknown, imperatively demanded that means 

 should be found for their control. In recognition of the need, and 

 in response to the call, provision, through State aid of the means 

 essential to the study, was made, and those were found who were 

 ready to devote themselves enthusiastically to the work. As the 

 result, we are able to say, that there is to-day, within the reach of our 

 agricultural community, a literature which offers them means for pro- 

 tection from their insect foes, superior to that of any other country 

 of the globe. But, while boasting of this progress, I should fail of 

 giving honor to whom honor is due, if I neglected to recall the 

 fact, that at the very basis of this progress lie the labors of Dr. Asa 

 Fitch, called to his work thirty years ago by the New York State 

 Agricultural Society, and sustained therein for nearly a score of 

 years, by appropriations obtained from the State, through the 

 instrumentality of the Society. True, the labors and writings of Dr. 

 Harris, of Massachusetts, in his studies of insect habits, and of 

 preventive and remedial measures against a few species, initiated 

 economic investigations, and prepared the way for more extended 



