41 



the territory lying between the peints mentioned, it is very probable that it has spread 

 over the whole of it. In Ontario it has been found along the line of the Canada Southern 

 Railway, also in the neighbourhood of Hamilton. At the Annual Meeting of the 

 Entomological Society, held in London in September last, Mr. William Wold, editor of 

 the Farmer's Advocate, stated that he had recently received clover heads from several 

 correspondents infested with an insect which he believed to be this Clover Midge. Mr. 

 Charles Arnold, of Paris, Ont,, also thought, from what he had heard from those growing 

 clover in his vicinity, that the insect was injuring the crop there, and promised to send 

 some specimens to the writer on his return home if he could find them. On the 1st of 

 October I received from Mr. Arnold a small box with some heads of red clover, in which 

 I found a considerable number of full-grown larvae of the Clover Midge, thus establishing 

 tlie fact of its occurrence in that central district of Ontario. Mr. Arnold reports that 

 the insect has done a considerable amount of injury in his locality. 



A Source of Serious Danger. 



I have lately received from Mr. L. T. Derousse, of Camden, New Jersey, the manu- 

 script of a paper read by him before the Microscopical Society of Camden, in which he called 

 attention to the fact of living specimens of this larva being found abundantly in clover 

 seed offered for sale, and exhibited under the microscope specimens of the larva so obtained. 

 He stated that these larvae were found in a lot of clover seed which was sent to Wilson, 

 Fitzgerald <fc Co., seed dealers, of Camden, N.J., from the upper part of Pennsylvania. 

 These dealers, in the course of their examination of this clover seed by sifting, etc., with 

 the view of ascertaining how far it was contaminated with foul seeds, were surprised to 

 find a quantity of these larvse distributed throughout the seed. Samples of the infested 

 :seed were at once sent to Prof. George H. Cook, Director of the New Jersey Experi- 

 mental Station, who submitted them to Mr. A. S. Fuller, of Ridge wood, N.J., and he 

 identified them as the larv?e of the Clover Midge. Subsequently specimens of the insect 

 were sent to Prof. C. Y. Riley, of Washington, Entomologist of the Department of 

 Agriculture, and, although they were dead when they reached him, he had no difficulty 

 in recognising them as specimens of this injurious insect. In view of these facts, it is of 

 the utmost importance that farmers exercise the greatest caution in the purchase of 

 clover seed, else, while sowing their seed, they may at the same time be sowing an enemy 

 that will to a greater or less extent destroy the crop. Seedsmen also should exercise 

 great care, otherwise they may be the means of seriously injuring the clover growers in 

 their district by the introduction and dissemination of this pest. 



Importance of the Study of Entomology. 



The importance of the study of Entomology will, in this connection, be apparent to 

 everyone, since it places the farmer on his guard against an enemy which may inflict on 

 his crops untold damage, and such a word of caution may save the agi'icultural community 

 many thousands of dollars. At a recent meeting of the Farmers' Club, of Onondago 

 County, N.Y., Prof. Lintner made the following remarks : — "Occasionally at the present 

 ■day we may hear insects and entomologists spoken of as ' bugs ' and ' bug-hunters,' 

 epithets applied in derision to what are regarded as petty objects and trivial pursuits. 

 Such views only betray an ignorance which is equally pitiable and inexcusable. The 

 study of insects has assumed an importance in its direct application to agriculture, horti- 

 culture and sylviculture, second to no other department of natural history. It has called 

 to its aid some of the best intellect of the country, and its literature has become extensive 

 and assumed a high rank. Our State governments, in response to demands made upon 

 them, are appointing State entomologists ; our general Government is making liberal 

 appropriations for entomological work in the Department of Agriculture at Washington, 

 and also for sustaining a special United States Entomological Commission, now in the 

 third year of its operations, charged "svith the investigation of a few of our more injurious 

 insects. The study of insects assumes an importance in this country greater than in any 

 other part of the world. Nowhere else does Mother Earth yield in such variety and in 



