9 



special consideration of the influences and natural laws which contribute 

 to favorable or unfavorable conditions for their life and work; and 

 the conducting of experiments to determine practical methods of pre- 

 venting losses from the ravages of the destructive species. 



The information to be collected and disseminated is of two kinds: 

 (1) That which is of a technical nature, as contributions to the advance- 

 ment of science and for the special benefit of students and investigators; 

 and (2) that which is capable of immediate practical application in the 

 management of public and private forests and in lumbering operations. 



In addition to a special knowledge of entomology, pure and applied, 

 the student who desires to become a good forest entomologist should 

 have a general knowledge of the science of forest zoolog}^ forest 

 botan}', geology, chemistrj', physical geography, and economics. It 

 is also important that he have some experience or special training in 

 practical methods of forest management, and knowledge of the manu- 

 facture and use of forest products. The universities and especially 

 the forest schools and colleges will give the desired preliminary train- 

 ing in forestry, and works on general entomology, such as those by 

 Harris, Packard, Comstock, Smith, Howard, Sanderson, and other 

 American writers, supplemented by some of the principal foreign 

 works, will fill the requirements for information about insects in 

 general. 



After this general knowledge is acquired, together with some train- 

 ing in methods of utilizing published data as guides to methods of 

 study and to the discovery of new facts, the forest will be the school 

 and nature the teacher which will finish the student's course and 

 determine his right to a degree. Indeed, the student who will attain 

 the greatest success in this, or other branches of entomology, will be 

 the one with a natural or acquired ability and love for the work who 

 will seek out the insects in their natural haunts and rely upon and 

 cultivate originality in methods of observation and in collecting and 

 recording data on which to base conclusions. 



There is, perhaps, no branch of science which offers greater oppor- 

 tunities for the discovery of new facts and the contribution of valuable 

 information than forest entomology. In this field very little is known 

 compared with what there is yet to be learned. Especially is this true 

 in regard to the life history, habits, and distribution of the injurious 

 and beneficial species. Yet this knowledge is of the greatest impor- 

 tance in determining and applying methods of preventmg losses. 



There are, indeed, hundreds of subjects and special problems in 

 forest entomology worthy of a lifetime study by as manj' specialists. 

 There are many families, groups, and genera of insects represented by 

 the principal enemies and friends of the forest which are sadly in 

 need of detailed study by specialists for the accurate identification of 

 the species and a complete revision of the literature. The insects of 



