The Washington times., 1918-07-21
Bus1Iy Work
ing Night and
Day for Us
: = :. and Should
BE Encouraged
r4-ti

90 10 A Ill bugs look alike to most people in
- N their responsiveness. We kill a ny
- or mosquito or caterpillar every
time we can, and we rather naturally feel
inclined to destroy any other bug, beetle
"a or insect that comes within reach. But
here we are wrong.
,.a Professor George A. Pinder, of the Amer
ican Museum of Natural History in New
- York, has prepared a bulletin carefully
pointing out that not all insects are pests.
3. In fact, many bugs and fytnk things are
mans faithful friends. They may seem
"' ..repellant in features or startling habits,
y. but this should not weigh against the in
a. caIculable service they kindly render man
4.-- kind
- The dragon fly or devils Sarning needle"
- 'or instance, is commonly mistaken as a
uisance. He flies about over the surface
-. II ponds and lakes and frightens people.
lie is quite sizable insect and darts here
and there in sudden spurts. He is reputed
to bite" and is supposed by the ignorant
u Ito enjoy boring into peoples ears. ALI this
is untrue. He never did an unfriendly
thing to human being.
The truth is that the dragon ny is a tire
less hunter and eater of mosquitoes. This
- is his one purpose in life He and his
children from the day they are born until
., they die are busy with the praiseworthy
yl'. fight OF mosquito determination. The big
dragon ny pursues the adult mosquitoes and
the little ones hunt and eat the young mos
o.. quitoes-a splendid family arrangement.
~ Nobody should ever injure dragon ny.
l-'',- As to the locust or grasshopper, there
-. are things to be said for and against him.
-.a- When he is present in myriads he destroys
much. But he can be and is many times
a source of food supply. John the Baptist
lived on locusts sweetened with wild honey.
In St Matthew we read:
- And the same John had his raiment Of
cameIs hair and Ieathern girdle about
his loins; and his meat was locusts and
200, wild honey"
And in Leviticus we find this authorita-
.- tive verse:
"' Even these of them ye may eat; the
locust after his kind; and the bald locust
after his kind; and the beetle after his
kind and the grasshopper after his kind"
The Greeks valued grasshoppers very
81. highly as a delicacy, according TO Pericles,
and many tribes of Indians eat them with
relish and profit Scientists on field work
have dined with natives on locust dishes
and report them edible and nourishing.
According to Professor Pinder, the
losses in this country each year due to
insect activities amount to $780, 200, 900,
which is about six times greater than
the annual fire loss in the entire United
States. These enemy insects by their
habit of carrying disease germs are instru-
mental in causing 97,2OO deaths q year
from malaTial and intestinal diseases
But the great mass Of insects are really
--. q blessing in disguise, so far as man Is
concerned, for they keep up a continual
warfare on those wicked insects that prey
upon man and his food. 1t is easy enough
-, to estimate the damage done by insects,
but II would be impossible to calculate the
benefits that useful insects confer upon
humanity. The losses incurred at present
90 .N oUld be perhaps a hundred times greater
if the helpful insects were not on hand to
give battle to the parasitic creatures that
wage war on man and his food.
Or The fruit crops of the world owe their
existence largely to the pollinating Of the
blossoms by insects, and if these insects
-. did not perform this necessary work the
D., fruits could not survive.
.. We often speak of the advantages OF
modern harvesting machinery, but these
~-s advantages pale into insignifcance com.
.- pared with the tremendous benefits de.
.,, rived from the insects of the field. The