INSECTS AND MAN. 
37 
grows ; why is shade-grown tobacco not a success, or the cultivation 
of sunflower or ground-nuts in North India ? What takes toll of 
every crop grown in this country to a greater or lesser extent ? Insects 
in every case insects ; and insects are a factor to be taken into account 
in agriculture all the world over. 
Think of one 3 s daily life ! There are cockroaches that smell, fish 
insects that eat our papers, ants that carry off our sugar, “ gundies 53 
and other smelly things that flavour our food when they fall in, wasps 
and hornets that sting, mosquitoes that bite and annoy, to say nothing 
of sand-flies, that no mosquito net keeps out, and the bug and flea which 
continually pester us, the mud wasps that build nests in our books 
and close our locks ; furniture beetles that wear out our chairs, the 
cheroot beetles that spoil our cigars, the book beetle that tunnels in our 
books, the moth that destroys our clothes. Daily and hourly we 
come in direct contact with insect life. Head the doleful comments of 
the Calcutta resident in August, asking why science cannot check the 
insects that come to his lamp during dinner and make his life a burden ; 
or the sad tale of the District Officer who had to vacate his bungalow 
because the wasps wanted it and had been accustomed to have it; or 
again the tale of the telegraph stores which were hurriedly wanted in 
large quantities, but could not be touched because hornets had built- 
nests among them and actively resented any interference ; or that of the 
greatcoats ready to be distributed to the. army, each being found with 
neat little holes eaten out by beetles. Impartial judgment and a 
dispassionate consideration of facts will show that insects have fully 
exploited man, and, that though man may think that he is dominant, 
he really is not, and that not the least among his functions is that of 
providing food and occupation for insects. 
It has been the custom of authors of all periods to refer all insects 
in some way to man’s well-being and economy. Every insect was, 
to them, created with some definite object from man's point of view ; 
and one has only to accompany a party of visitors round a collection, 
even in this twentieth century, to find this view still expressed. u What 
is the use of this ? 33 “Why was that created ? 33 Man may or may not 
be the central being of this earth, but to attempt to refer the activities 
of all insects in some way to his welfare is, at least, a problem that none 
