INSECT DEPREDATIONS IN NORTH AMERICAN FORESTS. 89 



known, and the general character and extent of their depredations 

 have been ascertained. 



The more important facts in the life history, habits, and practical 

 methods of control relating to some of the more destructive insects 

 have been determined. 



A mass of original data has been collected relating to forest in- 

 sects in general, including not only those which are destructive or 

 injurious, but also those which are beneficial or neutral in their rela- 

 tion to the forest, as represented by a collection of more than a mil- 

 lion specimens of insects and their work. 



As a direct result of the investigations of forest insects during the 

 past six years, at a cost of less than $53,000, there has been accumu- 

 lated a reserve fund of information now available through publica- 

 tions, correspondence, and field demonstrations which, if properly 

 utilized for practical application, would evidently prevent from 10 

 to 30 per cent of the annual losses at a very small cost. 



Disseminated infoiination. — In addition to information dissemi- 

 nated in all sections of the country through correspondence, lectures, 

 demonstrations, exhibitions, etc., the published information, based 

 on results of investigations conducted by the West Virginia Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station and by the Bureau of Entomology of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture during the past eighteen years, 

 is represented by over 1,300 pages, 99 plates, and 340 figures. (See 

 list of publications.) 



NEEDS. 



The work that has been done is only a banning in the vast field 

 of forest entomology. There is need of more systematic work (or 

 so-called pure science) on the different stages of the thousands of 

 species of injurious and beneficial insects involved. This is abso- 

 lutely necessary in order to have the further scientific basis of facts 

 on which to hiaJd the structure of complex details necessary to suc- 

 cess in practical application in its broadest sense. 



There is need of further detailed study of habits and seasonal his- 

 tory of the species of injurious and beneficial insects, as well as of the 

 local and other conditions favorable and unfavorable for their mul- 

 tiplication and work. 



Further information is desirable on the principal factors of nat- 

 ural control of injurious insects, in order that it may be better util- 

 ized to facilitate artificial control. 



There is special need of more general information and public in- 

 terest in the subject of losses from insect depredations on standing 

 timber and timber products, and a better realization of the possibility 

 and practicability of preventing losses. 



Looking to this end, there is need of further demonstration and 

 educational work along the lines which will bring the matter to the 

 61830°— Bull. 58—10 7 



