PREFACE. 
During the past season of 1887 the prolonged heat and 
drought was accompanied by an unusual amount of presence of 
various kinds of crop-insects, and also by unusual amount of 
damage from them. 
The attacks of insects injurious to corn-stems were, as is well 
known, unusually severe. The old-standing attacks of the 
Barley Chlorops and the Corn Sawfly were so prevalent as to be 
often mistaken for those of new pests, and the new arrival, 
the Hessian Fly, showed spread over a far wider area than in the 
previous year; and though it caused little damage to Wheat, was 
injurious in some cases to a serious extent to Barley. Turnip 
crops also suffered much, especially from Turnip caterpillar, and 
from Aphides, commonly known as “ blight.” 
Amongst attacks injurious in fruit farming, which is an 
increasingly important subject, that of the Pear “ Slug-worm,” 
the maggot of a sawfly, was unusually observed, and so was the 
Black Currant Phytoptus, a minute mite, which does much harm 
to this kind of Currant, and when once established is very hard 
to get rid of. 
Great advance has been made with regard to some of the 
regular annual causes of loss, either by directly lessening amount 
of attack or by increase of knowledge, both as to the habits of 
the insect and methods of treatment reliably available for 
lessening the evil, which would be exceedingly useful if the 
knowledge could be more generally spread. 
The destruction of Ox Warble has been especially shown (by 
the widespread observations of last season following on those of 
the preceding years) to.be a matter easily and cheaply carried 
out, with great benefit to cattle-owners. 
