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[AsSEiMBLy 
means of enjoyment to millions of human beings, and anticipated 
the progress of civilization by many centuries. 
But without venturing to claim for zoology such brilliant results, 
we may remark, that our comforts, and even our existence, is inti- 
mately connected with the class of beings whose characters and 
habits we are called upon to investigate. During the past summer, 
our farmers, more particularly in the northern parts of the State, 
had occasion to mourn over their blighted harvests, to witness the 
devastation of their property, occasioned by an apparently insigni- 
ficant insect, and to regret their ignorance of his peculiar habits, 
in order that they might be prepared to suggest some rational re- 
medy for his destruction. The pecuniary loss thus occasioned in 
this State alone, almost exceeds belief. Nor have our grain crops 
alone been thus assailed. In many of our most fertile grazing coun- 
ties, the grass has been nearly destroyed by the combined ravages 
of vermin and insects. The cultivator of fruit likewise has often 
witnessed with unavailing regret, his favorite trees either totally 
destroyed or much retarded in their growth, by insects, whose di- 
minutive size or nocturnal habits, eluded his observation. Even in 
the depths of winter, the enemy has been insidiously at work, and 
the disappearance of the last snow has revealed the extent of the 
destruction. It is scarcely necessary to allude to the depredations 
committed in our gardens, as a subject of daily occurrence; and 
although the injuries thus incurred may in isolated instances ap- 
pear to be of small amount, yet the aggregate annual loss can 
scarcely be appreciated. The benefits, direct and indirect, which 
we derive from animali, and the means of increasing them, fall 
naturally within the province of the zoologist; but these are too 
obvious to make.it the subject of a special notice. 
The State of New-York is connected on its southern border 
"with the ocean, and its numerous products; at the north will be 
found many inhabitants of the arctic regions; while the rivers 
on its south-western frontier will be found to connect it with the 
great valley of the Mississippi. From its magnitude and geogra- 
phical position, it will therefore be found to comprise in all proba- 
bility, more than iwo-thirds of all the animal species existing within 
the limits of the United States. In this view of the subject, how 
important does it appear that not only her zoological as well as her 
mineral and botanical productions should be carefully investigated, 
and this knowledge be duly proraulgated. This seems alike de- 
