INTRODUCTION. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL CALENDAR.* 
the year 1884 we can not accord any peculiar distinction in the 
3 of economic entomology in Illinois, unless we consider the 
il prevalence of the soft maple bark louse (.Pulvinaria innum- 
s) and a notable outbreak of the grass worm (Laphygma frugi- 
as especially remarkable events. The general damage to the 
by insects, was, as a whole, decidedly below the average, not 
;le one of the great scourges of agriculture having attracted 
tl attention or done conspicuous damage except in one or two 
ces and in limited localities. I wish I might believe that this 
[fas due in any considerable measure to the progress of the 
i ir knowledge of economic entomology and to an increased dis- 
>n to apply its resources to the war against our insect enemies, 
; judge that it is to be attributed to providential rather than to 
i interposition. 
i average weather of this season and the preceding, inclining 
Ti to extraordinary moisture, except during the period when 
3ssian fly is peculiarly subject to injury by drouth, has supplied 
ions on the whole unfavorable to a high rate of multiplication 
i| j those species peculiarly susceptible to meteorological infiu- 
Hessian fly, so destructive last year throughout Southern 
3, was so far decimated by its parasites and by the long 
i and heat of summer, that we have not encountered it in 
ctive numbers except in Clark county, in Eastern Illinois, in 
ies where it did not last year prevail. The fact that the fly 
ed here when the weather was not different from that of more 
rly localities infected last year, shows that we owe the arrest 
ravages in these localities less to the weather than to other 
,—chief of which are, of course, its parasites. 
er the above head it is proposed to give, each year, a summary of the principal 
f interest in the field of economic entomology within the State, with principal 
e to the great insect pests whose numbers vary widely from year to year, so that 
;roductions may afford a continuous history of the oscillations of the most im- 
species. Here also will be introduced those species first recognized as injurious to 
are during the year which the report covers, where these seem of sufficient im- 
3 to deserve special mention in this connection. 
