8 
in Bulletin 6 of the State Laboratory of Natural History. The 
practical importance of these results as a part of the data of economic , 
entomology has led me to publish an abstract of the above paper j 
in this report. 
In preparing my report for publication, I have borne in mind the | 
fact that economic entomology is a science of great extent, and of j 
unusual difficulty, and that it requires for its most successful culti¬ 
vation the joint labors of a number of workers, each contributing i 
his share to the common stock of knowledge. The main object of | 
all our studies and experiments must be the improvement of agri¬ 
culture and horticulture, as far as these depend on a knowledge 
and mastery of injurious insects, and they should undoubtedly 
finally result in plain and simple descriptions, by means of which 
the intelligent farmer and gardener can recognize their insect ene¬ 
mies and friends; and equally plain and clear directions for the j 
protection of their crops from insect ravages. But many of the 
questions presenting themselves for solution, are too large and com¬ 
plicated to be fully solved by A single worker, in a single year, and 
he will best help them to a solution who will publish from time to 
time reports of progress, so full and careful that others can see just■ 
what has been accomplished, and just where additional investiga¬ 
tion is next needed. It is on this account that I have gone, in 
some of the papers of this report, into what may seem tedious and 
unnecessary detail to those who look only for immediate practical 
results from everything done or attempted by the State Entomolo¬ 
gist. My purpose, in these papers, has been either simply to ad¬ 
vance a difficult subject another stage, or else, where final conclusions 
are announced on difficult or disputed points, to give the exact 
grounds of these conclusions, so that those interested may see upon I 
just what proofs they rest. In this way, I believe that we may be 
sure that progress will be uninterrupted and secure. 
The essential results of these more elaborate papers have been 
briefly summarized at intervals, and attention has been specially 
called to these summaries by foot-notes, for the benefit of those 
caring only for general conclusions. 
Besides the papers prepared by myself for the report proper, I 
present herewith an appendix, containing contributions by others. 
I am under obligations to Prof. T. J. Burrill, of the State Indus¬ 
trial University, for an article kindly placed at my disposal, on an, 
insect injury to the Lombardy poplar, discovered by him. 
One of the assistants in the Laboratory, Mr. W. H. Garman, haying 
paid special attention for the past three years to the minute and little 
known, but often decidedly injurious, mites known as the gall mites, 
or Pliytopti, I have asked him to prepare a paper, treating this 
group from the standpoint of the economic entomologist. 
Another Laboratory assistant, Mr. F. M. Webster, has made, under 
my direction, a special study of the Angoumois grain-moth, and 
has at my request prepared a report upon this destructive insect 
and its parasites. 
I wish in this place to acknowledge my general obligations to my 
above-named entomological assistants, Mr. Garman and Mr. Web-I 
