PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY 



47 



Eggs of Antiopa Butthrflv 



flowers and most valuable varieties of fruits. So important 



is this great work that the question continually arises : 



Might we not be doing harm if we reduce the numbers 



of insects too much? Its 



practical answer must be 



sought in a study of each 



species of insect, but it is 



safe to say that as most ' 



of the injurious kinds 



do little or no good, 



destruction of them is 



the only problem. It is 



also a wonderful coincidence that the most useful and 



benign of all insects, the honeybee, is practically sufficient 



for the work of cross- 

 pollination of fruits 

 and flowers. 



Methods of insect 

 destruction have run 

 of late years toward 

 the use of poisons and 

 spray pumps. These 

 are expensive and 

 laborious, and a ride 

 through the country 

 in any direction will 

 convince the unpreju- 

 diced observer that 

 these methods are 



inadequate to the task. One man may rid his garden of 



insect pests only to have it restocked from his neighbors' 



Fig. 12. Larva of Cecropia reared from 

 THE Egg 



(Length, 32 inches) 



