REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 183 



KEPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



LAWRENCE BRUNER. 



The present paper for your annual report for 1890 is composed of 

 several miscellaneous articles, notes, and an address prepared since 

 your last report was printed. The figures illustrating the insects 

 treated were, for the most part, obtained from the works of Riley, and 

 are credited to the proper sources in connection with the explanation 

 of each. 



A TALK ABOUT INSECTS FOR FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



Ladies and Gentlemen — The topic of insect depredations is not a 

 new one; neither are the insects which commit these depredations en- 

 tirely unfamiliar to those who must bear the losses. The study of in- 

 sects has become of sufficient importance to receive a distinct name by 

 which that particular branch of natural history is to be distinguished 

 from all others. The word Entomology is the one referred to. 



A century ago, yes even fifty years ago, when the study of insects 

 as well as that of allied sciences, were in their infancy, it was quite 

 popular to ridicule the person who was at times caught looking at so 

 insignificant a thing as an insect. Even at this late day, when mat- 

 ters have greatly changed, the entomologist, the botanist, or for that 

 matter, the scientist of any kind, is not entirely exempt from ridicule. 

 What is the good of catching or collecting together a lot of worthless 

 "bugs" or dried weeds and pinning or pressing them and giving them 

 house room? Why waste so much valuable time in so nonsensical a 

 manner as this? These are questions that every collector and student 

 of nature of the present day has frequently to reply to. Some of 

 these questions can be answered as follows, while others need not be 

 noticed : The collecting, naming, and describing of the forms of life 

 about us is of great practical value in the further study of the habits 

 and mode of life of each. If we have no names for insects, plants, 

 etc., by which to distinguish one from the other, very little can be 

 done towards gaining a definite knowledge of practical value. By 

 building up a first-class collection of these objects and having them 



