102 © DR. HARRIS’S REPORT. April, 
without injuring the plants. The solution may be made by dissolv- 
ing one pound of hard soap in twelve gallons of the soap-suds left af- 
ter washing. This mixture should be applied twice a day with a 
water-pot. 
The insects, whose habits I have now attempted to describe, are 
but a very small number of those, belonging to the order Coleoptera, 
which are injurious to vegetation. I have selected chiefly such as 
are the most remarkable, and as would best serve to illustrate the 
different families and genera to which they belong. Seven more or- 
ders remain to be treated in the same way, to carry out the plan 
upon which this report has been begun. Probably none of them 
will require to be considered so much in detail as this order, which 
presents a greater variety in the forms and habits of the individuals 
included in it, as well as a much greater number of species, than all 
the other orders. If, however, you take into consideration the de- 
vastations of grasshoppers, bugs, plant-lice, locusts or cicade, slugs, 
caterpillars, and maggots, you will readily perceive, that ample ma- 
terials for another report are still left. 
It is well known, that there is no work, in our language, on this 
branch of natural history, either scientific or popular, which will 
serve as a manual or introduction to the knowledge of our own insects. 
Detached descriptions there are, it is true; but they are available 
only to a few persons, and not to the great body of the people. 
Most of the works on Entomology, in America, consist of short trea- 
tises, compilations, or abridgments, originally published in England, 
and adapted exclusively to that country. Many of the most valuable 
publications on this subject are very expensive, and are wholly be- 
yond the means of persons of moderate income ; many, also, are 
printed in languages which are not generally understood by us. 
Even these, valuable and essential as they are to the professed Ento- 
mologist, would not supply the particular wants of our own country- 
men. It is greatly to be regretted, furthermore, that our public li- 
braries are so deficient in works on this branch of science. In these 
repositories of learning, we ought to find all the larger, more expen- 
sive, and general works, which are necessary for the illustration of 
every department of science. A scholar can no more labor in his 
peculiar vocation without books, than a mechanic can without tools ; 
