A CENSUS OP INSECTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 160, 8 July 1899, Page 5 (Supplement)

A CENSUS OP INSECTS.

An insect census has just been taken in Great Britain on purely scientific lines with a view to determine as far as It is possible which insects are a boon and a blessing to mankind, and which are the reverse. Although the statistics quite upset the old Idea, that all insects and lower animals were created solely for man's benefit, yet it is conclusively proved that while some insects are rightly termed "pests," there are others that render us considerable service; and fortunately for our crops and vegetation the latter are in the majority.

According to the census, insects are to b_ classed as good, bad, and indifferent; the good insects number 116 families, the bad insects amount to 113 families, while the indifferent Insects, who could not for one reason or another satisfactorily answer all the questions on their census papers, and must therefore for the present be looked upon as doubtful. characters, reach a total of 7_ families.

No fewer than 112 families of the baa or injurious insects feed upon cultivated plants and crops, doing damage to ana devouring thousands of pounds' worth of vegetable produce annually; gobbling up our spring cabbages and succulent young peas, etc., in the most ruthlesfashion; while the 113 th family is parasitic upon and causes much harm to warm blooded animals.

Of the good or beneficial insects, seventy nine families devote themselves to the destruction of their wicked, vegetable devouring brethren, which they accomplish in a most satisfactory and wholesale manner, while of the remaining useful insects, thirty two families act as scavengers, clearing away with great rapidity all sorts of decaying vegetable and animal matter, two families aid us as pollenisers, and three form food for out eatable fishes.