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TEACHING ENTOMOLOGY.* 



Bj Prof. A. J. Cook, Agricultural College, Michigan. 



Ladies and gentlemen of the Entomological Club, I congratulate you 

 that another year has passed, and our number has not been broken in 

 upon by death. While our ranks have been much enlarged, no one 

 has been called to that " undiscovered country from whose bourne no 

 traveler returns." 



I also congratulate you upon the great increment in our force of work- 

 ing entomologists. I think I may say, with no fear of contradiction, that 

 no year in the history of America has been so remarkable in this respect 

 as has the last. This is a cause for special felicitation not only to en- 

 tomologists, but to all our people. Ours is a tremendous country — by 

 ours I include, of course, our Canadian brothers, for we as scientists 

 know no line of separation — and to spy out the entire land needs an 

 army of workers or observers, all trained to keen sight and ready ap- 

 prehension. But more than this the magnitude of our country is fully 

 equaled by the magnitude of the insect hosts, and to know all of these? 

 with their full life history, requires an in calculable amount of closest 

 research. But our business economy demands this for all our species, 

 for so wonderful is the balance of nature, so close the relations of all 

 species of life, that really we may hardly divide insects into those im- 

 portant and those unimportant in our agricultural economy. All are 

 important; and so from an economic, no less than a scientific, stand- 

 point it is desirable that all such research be widely encouraged. And 

 it is a most hopeful omen — the rapid increase of earnest and trained 

 workers. 



I shall not in this address occupy time to give the peculiarities of the 

 season in respect to insects, nor yet call attention to the interesting dis- 

 coveries, like the importation of the Vedalia eardinalis. All these will 

 be brought out in papers and discussions. I must, however, refer to the 

 new association for the advancement of economic entomology, which 

 was organized at Toronto a year ago, and which held its first meeting 

 in Washington last November. This meeting, under the presidency of 

 Dr. Riley, was a valuable one, and that society promises much for the 

 science of entomology, as well as for its economic development. It is 

 also a matter of much interest that a new paper, Entomological News, 

 is started at that great center of entomology, Philadelphia, which will 

 also do much every way for our science. This, with the very excellent 

 periodical. Insect Life, published by the Entomological Division of 

 the Department of Agriculture, can but give new impetus to entomo- 

 logical research. Supplementary to these we have an addition to Pro- 



* Presidential address delivered at the meeting of the Entomological Clnb of the 

 A. A. A. S. at Indianapolis, August 20, 1890. 



