ENTOMOLOGICAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1898, 19 June 1890, Page 9

ENTOMOLOGICAL.

ECONOMIC EMTOMOLOGY.

Very few there are who appreciate the patient labour* of the student of eoonomio entomology, At best he is considered as an eccentric individual, whoaa attention is takan up with beetles, moths, and inseots quite unworthy of the notice of his commentators, who too often are doing no good for their fellow oreatuies, and very little for themselves. The reason is because very few are aware of the enormouß losses inflicted upon the human race by our insect enemies. When a neighbourhood is infested by any species of predacious animals, and men or oattle have been carried off, the loss is easily estimated, as also the services of the brave man who destroys the enemy ; but the patient student who saves to the use of tko poor millions of pounds' wot th of food rarely gets any credit or any rsmunaration for hia toil. The reason for this is that very few persons know what tbo losses from insect causes amount to, and they are not easily eatimaetd. I shall only give one or two instances.

England loses from 16 to 20 millions of pounds annually from injurious insects, one insect alone costing an estimated loss of £5,000,000, In India the loss must be something enormouß, to which England's 20 millions k a mere trifle. In one year Mr Green, the Calcutta naturalist, informs us that the loss on wheat exported from that part alone was £500,000, and that the same ■ inseot damaged tl.a rice crop to a very much greater extent. Professor Rilay speaks o! the losses on the Pacific Ooaat as of "untold millions." In Mexico last year there was a loss of £3,000,000, from one insect alena, on the cotton crops, Mr Koebele told the writer in Auokland that the cottony scale must have cost California a great many millions of loss. The vine pyralis rrwaged French vineyards for 12 years, and coet that country enormous lobbbi, and the phylloxera brought mißery and akooit starvation in its train. Even in Naw Zealand, had

we the means to estimate our losses by the codlin moth alone, it would come to a sum of money that would aatoniah some readers, and the man who could get rid of the peßt would do more for bia country than most of those who sneer at the economio entomologist, although I am afraid the remuneration to himself would not be very great. One of the most unselfish and untiring economio entomologists the writer has the honour tojbe acquainted with is Miss Ormerod, the English farmers' true friend, by whose exertions millions of money have been saved. On one insect alone (the ox warble fly) Miss Ormerod must have saved her country not less than two or three millions annually, and were the farmers to pay more attention to her instructions the amount would be doubled. What is the good lady's reward for all her labour ? I wish I could tell you 1 When Professor Riley was in England about a year ago he went to see the hop api«, in the hop gardens of Kent, and he discovered where the insect wintered, which was hitherto unknown. This being in a position very easily assailed, will render it comparatively easy to destroy, and enormous Baying will result. Yet , euch a discovery is but a mere drop in the bucket to all the good Professor Riley has done. True, France has made him a Knight ! of the Legion of Honour, in recognition of bis valuable services to mankind ; but how few reap any reward or honour for the good they have done. Far better to be the inventor of a new kind of sauce or a worthless patent medicine than a means of saving a few millions annually for the good of country ! It is surprising how little people generally know of inseot habits, even where tney suffer from them, When endeavouring to introduce certain enemieß of the oodlin moth into New Zealand I was surprised that even men in high positions, and M.H.B,'b whose interest was desired to prooure permission to land the insects, invariably met the request with " Perhaps the insect you propose to introduce may be worse than the oodlin moth itself." One M.H.B. used the expression, "The devil we don't known, than the devil we do know." The absurdity of supposing a carnivorous insect to ba injurious to apples and pears ! and the idea of supposing that such a man as Professor Riley would be likely to make a mistake of tiat nature in sending ua the inseots ! As competition grows keener, as it will do, it is quite evident that the enormous waste from insect causes must be avoided, and it does seem as if more attention to the subject and more encouragement from Governments would be desirable. We have learned one [lesson from the codlin moth, and the phylloxera is about to teaoh ua another,

Entomologist.