STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
411 
Entomology; for when they see whole fields of wheat and corn 
cut oft’ and wholly destroyed by insects, they are in deep trouble, 
and would spare no pains or expense to get out. A year ago 
last fall as I was about to sow my wheat, I read very carefully 
your articles on the wheat fly or weevil as we call it here, and 
the Hessian fly, and treated the crop according to your reason¬ 
ing, and the consequence was, I got one-third more wheat to the 
acre from the poorest of my land than my neighbors did from 
new ground.” 
In a document of such compass as the one I here present, em¬ 
bodying such a multitude of observations, upon subjects which 
have hitherto been but little studied in our country, I do not 
flatter myself that every thing stated is accurate and free from 
error. Aware from my own experience in how many instances 
reinvestigating the structure and habits of an insect causes me 
to modify and change the opinions which previous observations 
have led me to form, I cannot doubt that in numerous instances 
further examinations of the species here treated of will show 
that amendments are required. I regard these reports as only a 
foundation, a stepping-stone to further researches in this direc¬ 
tion, whereby any errors into which I may have fallen will be 
corrected and the habits of each particular species will become 
fully examined and made known. As it is german to this sub¬ 
ject, I take the liberty to add a paragraph from a letter which 
came to hand as my previous report was passing through the 
press, from Mr. Curtis, whose recent articles on insects injurious 
to field and garden crops, in the Journal of the Royal Agricul¬ 
tural Society furnish such admirable models for essays of this 
kind, and whose great work on British Entomology, illustrated 
with unsurpassed clearness and accuracy, constitutes an endu 
ring monument to his fame. He says, “ I rejoice to find 
you are setting to work in good earnest with the noxious Insects 
of America, One of the most important steps is to get their cor¬ 
rect scientific names, and as far as possible to identify your spe- 
cies by giving good figures of them. For want of correct names 
a vast portion of the published accounts by Gardeners and Far¬ 
mers previous to the publication of Dr. Lindley’s Gardeners’ 
Chronicle, relative to economic Entomology, were worthless, 
