rl38 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



relatively small demand for crabs, which does not lead to fish- 

 ing for them np to the limit of the supply, or to the destruction 

 of immature forms. 



It should not be forgotten, however, that the same feeling of 

 security as to the future has been felt in regard to other forms 

 of economic importance, and that in a number of cases, those 

 forms would now be in a fair way to extinction, were it not for 

 laws regulating their capture and for the artificial raising of 

 the young. 



It is therefore proper that we should prepare ourselves while 

 the supply is still sufficient, for the day which will certainly 

 come, when some measures either for restricting the taking of 

 the adult or the protection of the young will be necessary. This 

 must be done in two ways; first, by obtaining all the necessary 

 particulars concerning the life history and habits of the form 

 we wish to preserve, and secondly, by educating the public up to 

 seeing the necessity for such measures. 



ENTOMOLOGY 



The work of the state entomologist in 1901 has been varied 

 and most important attention has been given to various insecf 

 pests which are specially abundant and destructive. One of the 

 most serious of these was the Hessian fly, of which a detailed 

 notice has been prepared. 



The three lines of special investigation reported on last year 

 have been continued. The experiments with insecticides against 

 the San Jose" scale have resulted largely in confirmation of the 

 work of last year. The study of forest and shade tree insects 

 has been continued, and many valuable facts ascertained, which 

 will soon be embodied in a memoir. The work of the entomolo- 

 gic field station was continued at Ithaca N. Y., instead of at 

 Saranac Inn as last year, in cooperation with the authorities of 

 Cornell University. Special attention was paid to the smaller 

 dragon flies or damsel flies, Odonata-Zygoptera, and the fish food 

 material collected the preceding year has been studied. These 

 results, together with the study of a family of small flies 



