216 REPORT OF THE 



able measures for destroying and keeping in check those that 

 by their depredations on his forest trees and grasses become 

 most formidable enemies and the pests of civilization. 



The army of weevils, Hessian flies, midges, c .inch bugs, and 

 cut worms attacking his wheat and other cereals, the numerous 

 species of borers, curculios, locusts, and moths so destructive 

 to his fruit and forest trees, all point to his interest in becoming 

 better acquainted with the economy of nature, and studying 

 more closely* the varied phenomena presented by organic beings. 



The intimate relations of Zoology to the other departments of 

 science, might be cited as an incentive to a more general dis- 

 semination and increase uf the knowledge of organic beings. 



Geology derives important aid in its investigations from the 

 application of the principles of Zoology; indeed, the rapid pro- 

 gress of the science of Geology at the present time is owing to 

 the accurate investigations of the relations existing between 

 the organic forms at present inhabiting our globe, and those 

 fossil remains that are the index of the faunas and floras of 

 past ages. 



It Is in fact in consequence of the aid furnished by the kin- ■ 

 dred sciences of Botany and Zoology that modern Geology has 

 attained her proudest achievements. 



In the State of New York alone hundreds of thousand of dol- 

 lars have been expended in explorations for coal, when an ex- 

 amination of a few shells that abound in her rocks, would have 

 shown that the entire geological formations of the State were 

 below the coal bearing series of ro^cks, and that explorations 

 for that mineral would consequently be fruitless. 



In an educational point of view, a systematic knowledge of 

 the animals inhabiting our State, their habits and relations to 

 man and the surrounding world, would furnish a fund of mate- 

 rials for reflection and study, which, as a means of mental cul- 

 ture and developement, is capable of attaining a high rank 

 among the studies considered essential in our institutions of 

 learning, to a successful training of the intellec al powers. 



At the present time, when a knowledge of the principles of 



