10 



the pines and spruces, the cedar.^, oaks, and liickories, and many others 

 of our principal forest trees, offer excellent opportunities for original 

 investigation and the contribution of information of great importance. 



METHODS OF WORK AND STUDY. 



In addition to general methods of collecting, preserving, and mount- 

 ing insects, as given in text-books on entomology, some suggestions 

 may be offered for studying forest insects and for the investigation 

 of their work. 



First of all, the student should keep in mind that there are many 

 collectors of insects and many students in general entomology, as well 

 as numerous specialists who are collecting and studying insects of all 

 orders found in the forest and field. Thus he should avoid general 

 collecting, and devote his time to the accumulation of specimens and 

 observation on life histories and habits of insects which are associated 

 with injuries to forest trees or forest products. 



In addition to a general study of insects which have some economic 

 relations to forests, he should select, at as early a date as possible, 

 some special subject for detailed study. There is no lack of important 

 subjects, as has already been suggested, but in making the selection 

 the prevailing conditions, opportunities, and facilities in the immediate 

 vicinity or sections in which the studies are to be conducted should be 

 considered. If it is in a pine region, insects affecting pines will offer 

 the most desirable opportunities for study; if in a hardwood region, 

 those affecting the oaks, hickories, chestnut, and the like will offer the 

 best opportunities. If there is some prevailing injury to a given kind 

 or class of forest trees, this will at once suggest itself as the most 

 important to take up. It matters not whether it is the study of the 

 insect fauna of a species or genus of forest trees, the causes of a special 

 class of injuries, or the study of a single family, genus, or species of 

 insect. There is enough in each case to keep the student occupied in 

 original researches for many years, and to furnish sufficient material 

 for contributions to the literature of the subject. Indeed, every 

 student who takes up forest entomology as a life work should start out 

 with the object of acquiring and disseminating as much knowledge as 

 possible on some special feature of the science. To thus become a 

 specialist of this kind does not necessarily imply that he will have a 

 narrow comprehension of the entire subject. Even if one were to try 

 to find out all that is to be known about a single enemy of a forest 

 tree, and every possible method of preventing losses from its work, 

 his work would involve a general knowledge not only of forest ento- 

 mology in its broadest sense, but of all related sciences and subjects. 

 In fact, as a great thinker has said, in order to know all about any one 

 thing it is necessary to know all about everything. While this may 

 not be litenilly true, it is becoming recognized that there is almost 

 an unlimited interrelation of all sciences and all subjects. 



