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THE GEELONG NATURALIST. 19 
to cope with, and is only to be dealt with by special treatment. 
The planting of orchards in our thickly timbered districts has no 
doubt largely augmented the number of native pests, as many of 
those which I have described in Parts I and II of my book, have 
left their natural food only to tackle our imported trees, the 
latter being, I suspect, more palatable to them than many of our 
native gums, wattles, &c. 
The destruction of our valued friends, the insect eating birds, 
has, without a doubt, been the cause of an enormous increase in our 
insect pests, alland sundry, and nothing could have been more 
suicidal on our part than to have quietly permitted this destruction 
to continue as it has done. On the subject of the supreme indiffer- 
nce which has led to such wholesale slaughter of our best birds, I 
have but little to say. But if I were to express my true feelings on 
the matter, I fear it would be much more impressive and inelegant 
than edifying to you. I feel, however, to put it mildly, that a 
great deal of the destruetion of both insect and bird life has arisen 
partly from a want of knowledge of a subject so interesting, and, at 
the same time, of such vast importance to the growers of this or 
any othercountry. This is where I consider that a practical ac- 
quaintance, however humble, with the insects and birds qf one's 
distriet is absolutely indispensable to those engaged in our great 
rural industries. 
Within the present century one of the prineipal causes of the 
little attention paid to entomology in England and elsewhere, has 
been the ridicule and almost, we may say, contempt, which has been 
lavished, by the ignorant and unthinking, upon those who ventured 
to preach any of the advantages to be gained by a study of such 
matters, In a comparatively few years, however, things in this 
respect have vastly changed, and we have but to look at America 
with its splendidly equipped entomological institutions, and as their 
systems are being rapidly followed in Europe, and to a certain 
extent in the Colonies, we may reasonably expect to reap the ad- 
vantages to be gained by such a study. We certainly ought to 
support those who have thus led the way in such eminently useful 
work, and in this connection I would here desire to place on record 
my appreciation of the persistent efforts of the agri-horticultural 
press of this and the sister Colonies in their endeavours to draw 
the attention of growers and others to the absolute necessity of 
doing all that is in their power to not only prevent the introduction 
of new pests but to stamp out those which are already here. 
‘Great naval and military commanders tell us how that to become 
fully acquainted with the habits or movements of an enemy, is to 
assist them materially in their annihilation of the latter. So it is 
with ourselves in connection with a knowledge of insect-life in all 
its interesting, though often destructive, bearings. We must be 
able in part to follow the practice of the physician or surgeon, 
