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lovely forests which give so much beauty to our landscapes, and are the source of so much 

 wealth to the country. Let us imagine that all these insects have been destroyed at one 

 fell swoop, and note the consequence. A giant of the forest dies, and in course of time, 

 during some winter storm, is blown down. Where it falls there it lies, and nothing can 

 grow from the space which it covers. Time rolls on and tree after tree falls, until the 

 whole ground is covered with the trunks and limbs of fallen trees, and what was once 

 a stately forest, with all its wealth of life, is now a vast wilderness where nothing can 

 grow. How different is the benelicent operation of Nature under the present conditions ; 

 Scarcely has a tree shown signs of declining vigour than the insect hosts are at work. 

 First of all come certain species which pick out any weak point and deposit their eggs 

 there. The larvae in due time hatch, and, eating into the tree, accelerate its decay. When 

 it dies and falls to the ground it is immediately pounced upon by the large wood-boring 

 beetles, which deposit their eggs upon the bark; these hatch into grubs armed with strong 

 jaws with which they soon bore into and through the trunk, thus rendering it permeable 

 to air and moisture. Smaller beetles and other insects follow in the wake of the larger, 

 and bore out the softened decaying wood, some using it as food, others as materials for 

 their nests. The rapidity of the work of destruction is astonishing, and, in an incredibly 

 short time, the giant which had taken hundreds of years to mature is reduced to mere 

 dust, which serves as a fertilizer of the soil, and enables it to produce fresh trees to fill up 

 the gap left by the one which has gone. 



It is questionable whether any good results would follow from giving statistics of the 

 amount of damage done by insects at different times, for so enormous are the figures that 

 could they even be appreciated they would not be believed by those avIio do not make a 

 study of the matter. It was estimated by Mr. B. D. Walsh, a careful observer, that in 

 1861 the injury caused by insects in the State of Illinois alone amounted to twenty mil- 

 lion dollars, and that the damage done by insects in the United States cannot be less than 

 three hundred million dollars annually. 



It may not be out of place here, to say a few words with reference to scientific 

 nomenclature. There appear very frequently in the different newspapers accounts of 

 the depredations of insects, and, that these may be concise and explicit, it is absolutely 

 necessary that some of the technical terms of Entomology should be used. But this is not 

 pleasing to all the agricultural classes, "for," say they, "how do we know what such terms 

 as hymenopterous, coleopterous, or dipterous, insects, which so frequently occur, mean 1 ?" 

 True! as a rule they do not; but if they take an interest in their own affairs, they should 

 make a point of finding out what they mean ; no one suffers more from these hosts than 

 they do, and it is ridiculous to think that they will remain inactive spectators when it is 

 within their power to avert or at any rate to palliate the evil, by taking cognizance of 

 and following the instructions given in the records of the work done by entomologists. 

 And what does all they are asked to do amount to % Simply this, that they will learn the 

 meaning of about at the most a score, certainly not more, of classical words. Now, let us 

 consider w^hat would be the result of their taking this trouble. In the first place Ento- 

 mologists could write short and concise accounts, intelligible to all, and, much more impor- 

 tant still, these accounts would not only be read and profited by, but the farmers, neces- 

 sarily taking an interest in what touched them so nearly, would also communicate many 

 of their own observations which, isolated, were useless, but being brought to the notice of 

 one who made a methodical study of the life-histories of insects, might form a connecting 

 link of the utmost importance in a previously broken chain of observation, on a certain 

 insect. These observations, too, being properly expressed, could be relied on, and no con- 

 fusion could arise which would decidedly not be the case unless the proper terms were 

 employed. Curtis, in his " Earm Insects," expresses himself as follows : " It is a great 

 mistake to suppose that scientific descriptions and correct nomenclature ought to be em- 

 ployed for the use of those only who are specially engaged in the study of Natural His- 

 tory. If insects be not thus accurately described, and their names learned carefully, the 

 facts noticed by practical observers are generally worthless, and may tend to mislead, by 

 the confusion of one species with another, and the consequent adoption of improper 

 remedies. It is thus that I have found, in extensive reading on these subjects, that a very 



