230 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



with complex societies and peculiar enemies and parasites, the gall 

 insects with their alternation of generations and exceedingly close 

 relation to plant life, the entire group of predaceous and parasitic 

 forms living at the expense of other insects, the comparatively helpless 

 plant lice or aphids overcoming hereditary weakness by a wonderful 

 prolificacy and an alternation of food plants, not to mention the 

 marked and in many instances easily observed transformations of 

 individual species. Insects should have an important place in every 

 course in biology or zoology. 



Many insects are of more or less direct service to man, notably the 

 honey bee, the silk worm, the lac insect, the cochineal insect and 

 certain blister beetles. There are also the numerous bees, wasps and 

 flies, mostly disregarded, which carry pollen from plant to plant and 

 are essential aids in the production of our more valuable fruits. They 

 render a service commonly accepted with no realization of its great 

 value. Other beneficial functions are suggested in the preceding 

 paragraph. 



It will be seen at once that some insects are beneficial, a considerable 

 series injurious and that hosts of others may become destructive 

 through minor changes in climate, cropping or as a result cf becoming 

 established in new areas. Over half of our principal agricultural 

 pests are importations from other countries. These conditions 

 suggest the need of a comprehensive knowledge of the entire insect 

 fauna, not only of this State, but of adjacent states and also of 

 countries with which we have close commercial relations, if the 

 subsequent developments in an exceedingly complex group are to 

 be appraised correctly and the possibilities of loss reduced to a 

 minimum. Nursery inspection and quarantines are practical meas- 

 ures designed to reduce the danger from the introduction of insects 

 from other countries. Entomologists are constantly being called 

 upon to pass on the probabilities of injury by insects of many species 

 and occurring under most diverse conditions. They are really ento- 

 mological engineers compelled by circimistances to acquaint them- 

 selves with an enormous amount of detail and at the same time remain 

 masters of comprehensive information concerning a wide range of 

 subjects. 



The natural resources of the State have long been recognized as 

 legitimate objects for investigation. There is no one group of living 

 organisms occurring in such great variety or such large numbers as 

 insects and for them we may also claim a most material effect upon 

 human welfare and prosperity. If the above be granted, and there 

 is no escape from such a conclusion, it logically follows that we should 



