A Treatise on Some of the Insects Injurious to Vegetation

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

TH

HE first edition of this work was printed in the year 1841. It formed one of the scientific Reports, which were prepared and published by the Commissioners on the Zoological and Botanical Survey of Massachusetts, agreeably to an order of the General Court, and at the expense of the State. The Commission for this Survey bore the date of June 10th, 1837; and the following instructions from his Excellency, Governor Everett, accompanied it :

"It is presumed to have been a leading object of the Legislature, in authorizing this Survey, to promote the agricultural benefit of the Commonwealth, and you will keep carefully in view the economical relations of every subject of your inquiry. By this, however, it is not intended that scientific order, method, or comprehension should be departed from. At the same time, that which is practically useful will receive a proportionally greater share of attention, than that which is merely curious; the promotion of comfort and happiness being the great human end of all science."

Upon a division of duties among the Commissioners, the department of Insects was assigned to me. Some idea of the extent of this department may be formed by an examination of my Catalogues of the Insects of Massachusetts, appended to the first and second editions of Professor Hitchcock's Report, in which above 2,300 species were enumerated; and these doubtless fall very far short of the actual number to be found within this Commonwealth.

In entering upon my duty, I was deterred from attempting to describe all these insects by the magnitude of the undertaking, and by the consideration that such a work, much as it might promote the cause of science, if well done, could not be expected to prove either interesting or particularly useful to the great body of the people. The subject and the plan of my Report were suggested by the instructions of the Governor, and by the want of a work, combining scientific and practical details on the natural history of our noxious insects. From among such of the latter as are injurious to plants, I selected for description chiefly those that were remarkable for their size, for the peculiarity of their structure and habits, or for the extent of their ravages; and these alone will be seen to constitute a formidable host. As they are found not only in Massachusetts, but throughout New England, and indeed in most parts of the United States, the propriety of giving to the work a more comprehensive title than it first bore, becomes apparent. This was accordingly done in the small impression that was printed at my own charge, while the original Report was passing through the press, and in which some other alterations were made to fit it for a wider circulation.

In the course of eight years, all the copies of the Report, and of the other impression, were entirely disposed of. Meanwhile, some materials for a new edition were collected, and these have been embodied in the present work, which I have been called upon to prepare and carry through the press.

Believing that the aid of science tends greatly to improve the condition of any people engaged in agriculture and horticulture, and that these pursuits form the basis of our prosperity, and are the safeguards of our liberty and independence, I have felt it to be my duty, in treating the subject assigned to me, to endeavor to make it useful and acceptable to those persons whose honorable employment is the cultivation of the soil.

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