Packard.] 
INSECTS OF THE CARDEN. 
19 
to the fact, that when their destruction was attempted in 
Hungary, winged insects increased so rapidly that rewards 
for the destruction of sparrows were suppressed, and others 
given for bringing them back. 
“Frederick the Great ordered the destruction of sparrows 
because they ate his cherries, but in two years’ time he found 
his cherries and all other fruits consumed by caterpillars. 
In a sparrow’s nest on a terrace in the Rue Vivienne were 
found the remains of seven hundred cockchafers. Owls 
and birds of that class-which agricultural ignorance pursues 
as birds of ill omen ought to be welcomed. They are ten 
times more useful than the best cats, and not dangerous to 
the larder. The martins that were killed, were found to 
have in their stomachs the remains of five hundred and forty 
three insects. The commission recommended a prohibition 
of bird-nesting and the destruction of eggs or young birds.” 
We must not kill any birds: even those that in the late 
summer pilfer from our orchards, at other times eat multi¬ 
tudes of worms. It will not do to destroy the balance of 
nature. 
The study of insects has been too much confined to their 
classification and the synonymy of the species. It is only 
occasionally that we see naturalists whose dispositions and 
opportunities lead them to study habits exclusively, or to 
combine the two departments of study. HeGeer and Reau¬ 
mur of the last century, whose ponderous tomes are packed 
with observations of insect economy, many of which have 
never since been repeated, laid the foundation of these in¬ 
quiries. The labors of the Swedish Count and French nat¬ 
ural philosopher are monuments of patient research and 
curious inquiry. 
Here also should be noticed Ratzeburg’s great work on 
forest insects. In the elaborate and beautiful plates, fifty- 
seven in all, that enrich the two volumes of this distin¬ 
guished entomologist, is reproduced the tree as it stands 
19 
