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the  field  products  and  therefore  do  not  yield  the  most  and  some- 
times any  calculable  advantage  if  not  even  more  harm  than  good 
in  the  very  things  which  were  sought  to  be  saved  by  their  means.” 
He  also  explicitly  admitted  that  the  knowledge  of  entomo- 
phagous  insects  is  necessary  for  their  useful  application  in  agri- 
culture and  in  fact  in  the  prefaces  to  the  two  parts  of  his  “Ac- 
count” he  wrote  in  this  respect : “May  these  collections  of  notes 
on  entomological  parasitism  have  the  effect  to  turn  the  attention 
of  students  of  natural  history  to  this  interesting  part  of  ento- 
mology so  that  new  material  may  be  gathered  to  amplify  the  work 
which  I myself  have  little  more  than  initiated  and  that  it  may 
result  in  ever  increasing  usefulness  in  the  application  of  this 
science.  These  few  hints  I consider  sufficient  to  bring  into  view 
the  importance  of  applied  entomology  which  is  related  in  many 
respects  to  vital  interests  of  human  society;  therefore  I am  confi- 
dent that  the  long  and  fatiguing  labor  involved  in  this  account 
may  be  received  as  a work  not  indeed  void  of  interest,  and  that  it 
may  be  of  advantage  for  useful  application.”  While  the  inde- 
fatigable and  ingenious  work  of  Rondani  was  in  progress  our 
other  entomologists  lined  up  to  praise  the  work  of  entomophagous 
insects,  especially  during  the  dispute  about  the  greater  or  lesser 
usefulness  of  birds  to  agriculture  which  arose  in  1868  and  which 
was  kept  up  for  several  years. 
Ghiliani  in  various  memoranda  sustained  the  utility  of  entomo- 
phagous insects  in  conformity  with  Rondani,  Sabbioni  defended 
the  same  argument,  and  Dr.  T.  Bellenghi,  referring  to  the  same 
Rondani3  spoke  prophetic  words  which  will  bear  repetition  to 
agriculturists  even  today,  namely : “Entomological  parasitism 
has  a future  and  in  it  more  than  in  anything  else  Italian  agricul- 
ture must  put  its  faith.” 
In  France  Perris  in  his  beautiful  monograph  on  seashore  pine 
insects  also  noted  the  importance  of  entomophagi  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  xylophagids  and  phyllophagids,  and  in  1873  he  too  went 
out  into  the  field  to  prove  the  usefulness  of  parasitic  insects  in 
preference  to  birds  for  fighting  injurious  insects.  Girard  ad- 
vised to  introduce  carnivorous  insects  in  gardens  and  the  “So- 
ciety of  Agriculture  of  France”  propounded  the  question:  which 
are  harmful  and  which  useful  insects? 
Finally  in  the  year  1872,  Decaux,  also  of  France,  began  to  pro- 
pose the  utilization  of  insect  parasites  and  continued  as  we  shall 
see  in  what  follows  to  recommend  always  with  deep  conviction 
and  great  enthusiasm,  up  to  the  year  preceding  his  death  (1889), 
the  use  of  parasites  in  the  fight  against  injurious  insects. 
With  1873  the  period  in  which  the  Italians,  with  Rondani  at 
their  head,  showed  any  interest  in  study  and  general  research  of 
insect  parasites  came  practically  to  a close  for  many  years ; the 
3 Boll,  del  Comizio  agrario,  Parma  V.,  1872,  in  note  page  11  of  the 
extract. 
