LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 
Carbontdale, III., Dec. 30, 1878. 
Hon. D. B. Gillham , President of the State Board of Agriculture: 
Dear Sir:— In presenting to you this, my third “Report as State 
Entomologist on the Noxious and Beneficial Insects of the State of 
Illinois,” I trust I may be excused for offering some explanations for 
adopting in this case a somewhat more strictly scientific plan than in 
my previous report. Not that the language used is any more difficult 
for unscientific readers to understand, or more technical, for I have en¬ 
deavored in the preparation of this, as well as of my previous reports, 
to keep constantly before my mind the fact that my work was chiefly 
for the benefit of the farmers and horticulturists of Illinois. But at 
the same time I have felt that there were others of our state interested 
in this matter, and not a small number either, whose benefit it was 
also my duty to consider in preparing this report. 
The addition, by the school law of our state, of the natural history 
branches to the studies in our common schools has compelled teachers, 
many of whom would perhaps otherwise pass these branches by with 
little notice, to give sufficient attention to them at least to pass exam¬ 
inations in them for first grade certificates. The result has been just 
what it was expected it would be by those who have given attention 
to these branches of knowledge, viz: that as soon as they entered upon 
this new field of knowledge a large portion would become interested 
therein. 
An interest in natural history has been awakened in the minds of 
teachers and students all over the state to an extent scarcely anticipated 
by the most sanguine. As insects are most easily procured and most 
readily preserved, this particular department of the science of zoology 
has received a very large share of attention. As it is as easy to illus¬ 
trate the principles ol classification, the methods of distinguishing ob¬ 
jects and arranging them, by insects as by the larger animals which 
are more difficult to procure, and the preparation and preservation of 
which is much more expensive, teachers have found these small ani¬ 
mals a ready means of illustrating the principles of the science. An¬ 
other advantage gained by using them arises from what might at first ap¬ 
pear to be an objection—their small size, viz: the necessity for close obser¬ 
vations. 
This has largely increased the demand for these reports, and other 
works on this particular science. I have therefore made it a point to 
