the story adds, " No effect whatever resulted, evidently on account of 
the great depravity of the people." In various other lawsuits the 
chroniclers fail to mention the final outcome; but, says Hagen, it is 
safe to surmise that in the whole history of jurisprudence there was 
never a greater disregard of the rulings of the courts on the part of 
the guilty parties than during the time of the mediaeval insect commis- 
sions. 
To attempt to enumerate the different commissions which have been 
established, particularly by European countries, against particular out- 
breaks of injurious insects, and especially against locusts, which have 
entered Europe from the south and from the west at intervals for many 
hundreds of years, would be impossible, and even if possible, would 
extend this paper far beyond its proj>er length. I shall be obliged, 
therefore, to neglect this phase of the subject, and confine myself 
rather to the history of the more prominent organizations of wider 
scope, and these I shall treat geographically and chronologically, 
beginning with our own country. 
THE UNITED STATES. 
Massachusetts. — Dr. Thaddeus William Harris was probably the 
first American entomologist to receive public compensation for his 
labors, and in this sense he may be called the first of the official ento- 
mologists in this country. In 1831 he prepared a catalogue of insects, 
appended to Hitchcock's Massachusetts Geological Eeport. u In the 
condition of American science at that day," says Scudder, "it was a 
work of inestimable value, though his only material compensation was 
one copy of the report and several copies of the appendix." At a later 
period he was appointed by the State as one of a commission for a 
more thorough geological and botanical survey. In this capacity he 
prepared his now classic report on insects injurious to vegetation, first 
published in full in 1841, the portion upon beetles having appeared in 
1838. He reprinted the work under the name "Treatise" instead of 
"Eeport" in 1842, and again, in revised form, in 1852. The whole sum 
received by him from the State for this labor was $175. After his death 
the work was reprinted by the State in its present beautiful form, with 
wood engravings which themselves marked an epoch in that art. It 
is largely upon this work that Harris 7 scientific reputation will rest, 
and, although prepared more than half a century ago, it is today per- 
haps above all other works the vade mecum of the working entomolo- 
gist who resides in the northeastern section of the country. 
From 1852 to 1870 Massachusetts did little or nothing in economic 
entomology. In the latter year, however, Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., then 
of Salem, was appointed entomologist to the State board of agricul- 
ture — without compensation, however, as he informs me. Dr. Packard 
published three reports covering the years 1871, 1872, and 1873. They 
