Copyright by The Century Co.
NETTLE TORTOISE SHELL
THE UTILITY OF ENTOMOLOGY
The annual loss suffered by agricultural communities through ignorance of entomological facts is very great. Every plant has its insect enemy, or, more correctly, its insect lover, which feeds upon it, delights in its luxuriance, but makes short work, it may be of leaves, it may be of flowers, it may be of fruit. It has been estimated that every known species of plant has five or six species of insects which habitually feed upon it.
We all have heard of the Hessian fly, of the weevil, and of the army-worm. The legislature of Massachusetts has in recent years been spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in the attempt to exterminate the gipsy moth. The caterpillar of the Cabbage butterfly ruins every year material enough to supply sauerkraut to half of the people. The codling moth, the little pinkish caterpillar which worms its way through apples, is estimated to destroy five millions of dollars’ worth of apples every year within the limits of the United States.
A few facts like these serve to show that the study of entomology is not a study which deserves to be placed in the category of useless pursuits. Viewed merely from a utilitarian standpoint, this study is one of the most important, far outranking, in its actual value to communities, the study of many branches of zoölogical science which some people affect to regard as of a higher order.
Copyright The Century Co.
SILVER-BORDERED FRITILLARY