174 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



entomology. Even our Continental neighbours are ahead of us 

 — a circumstance which tends to place those responsible for the 

 tilling of the soil at a considerable advantage over their less 

 fortunate brethren in this country. In the secondary schools in 

 Germany biological science forms part and parcel of the educa- 

 tional curriculum, and thus a most useful foundation for the 

 study of insects is laid at a very early age, and at a time when 

 the mind is so receptive, that what is then taught is invariably 

 retained in after life when more serious work is taken up. In 

 England the case is very different, and it is quite the exception 

 for even the most elementary knowledge of insects to be 

 imparted in schools ; while the man or youth who essays to 

 learn something of the creatures with which he may come in 

 contact is viewed in the light of a lunatic, his net and other 

 collecting paraphernalia being considered by every yokel as 

 abundant evidence of his particular form of madness. 



Again take the case of the amateur gardener. How seldom 

 is it that he troubles to inform himself concerning the number- 

 less creatures which in the pursuit of his hobby necessarily come 

 across his path. He knows " greenfly " when he sees it, per- 

 chance " wireworm," and the symptoms of attack of certain 

 other creatures ; but of their life-history he knows absolutely 

 nothing, and he depends almost entirely upon rule-of-thumb 

 methods for dealing with all sorts of pests. To him nearly 

 every small creature is regarded as an insect — from the wood- 

 louse or the centipede to the garden spider and the slug. Yet 

 an insect is so well defined that even the veriest novice, once he 

 has been informed as to its chief characteristics, could not well 

 make a mistake. So accustomed, too, is he to regard the 

 destructive propensities of the many, that the utilitarian pro- 

 perties of the comparatively few are almost invariably overlooked 

 or altogether ignored. Only too ready is he to crush out of 

 existence some creature of whose place in the economy of 

 Nature he knows little, and about whose value he appears to care 

 less. Maybe it is a repulsive-looking insect which has been 

 turned up with the soil, or which has been summarily ejected 

 from its day retreat. This ugliness is quite sufficient to seal 

 its doom, and without a moment's consideration the creature is 

 ruthlessly destroyed. Beetles in particular seem to come in for 

 more than their share of this ill-bestowed attention, and it is 



