209 



natural eDemies from Australia hung at one time upon a question of 

 specific ditference between it and the Icerya sacchari of Signoret — a 

 question of minute structure which the descriptions left unsettled and 

 which could onl}- be settled by the most careful structural study and 

 the comparison of the types, involving a trip to Europe. 



CONCLUSION. 



I have thus touched, gentlemen, upon a few of the many subjects 

 that crowd upon the mind for consideration on an occasion like this — a 

 few gleanings from a field which is passing rich in promise and possi- 

 bility. It is a field that some of us have cultivated for many years and 

 yet have only scratched the surface ; and if I have ventured to suggest 

 or admonish, it is with the feeling that my own labors in this field are 

 ere long about to end, and that I may not have another occasion. At no 

 tune in the history of the world has there, I trow, been gathered to- 

 gether such a body of devoted and capable workers in applied ento- 

 mology. It marks an era in our calling, and looking back at the prog- 

 ress of the past fifteen years, we may well ponder the possibilities of 

 the next fifteen. They will be fruitful of grand results in proportion 

 as we persistently and combinedly pursue the yet unsolved problems, 

 and are not tempted to the immediate presentation of separate facts 

 which are so innumerable and so easily observed that their very wealth 

 becomes an element of weakness. Epoch-making discoveries result 

 only from this power of following up unswervingly any given x)roblem 

 or any fixed ideal. The kerosene emulsion, the cyclone nozzle, the his- 

 tory of Phylloxera vastatrix, of Phorodon humuli, of Vedalia cardinalis, 

 are illustrations in point ; and while we may not expect frequent results 

 as striking or of as wide application as these, there is no end of im- 

 portant problems yet to be solved, and from the solution of which we 

 may look for similar beneficial results. Applied entomology is often 

 considered a sordid pursuit, but it only becomes so when the object is 

 sordid. When pursued with unselfish enthusiasm born of the love of 

 investigation and the delight in benefiting our fellow men it is inspiring, 

 and there are few pursuits more deservedly so, considering the vast 

 losses to our farmers from insect injury and the pressing need that the 

 distressed husbandman has for every aid that can be given him. Our 

 work is elevating in its sympathies for the struggles and suffering of 

 others. Our standard siaould be high — the pursuit of knowledge for 

 the advancement of agriculture. Xo official entomologist should lower 

 it by sordid aims. 



During the recent political campaign the farmer must have been 

 sorely puzzled to know whether his interests needed protection or not. 

 On the abstract question of tariff protection to his products we, as en- 

 tomologists, may no more agree than do the politicians, or than does 

 the farmer himself ; but ours is a case of protection from injurious in- 

 sects and upon that there can nowhere be division of opinion. It is 

 15738— No. 5 3 



