Introduction

The recorded history of biological control may be considered as dating from Egyptian records of
4,000 years ago, where domestic cats were depicted as useful in rodent control.

Insect Predation was recognized at an early date, but the significance of entomophagy and
exploitation was lost except for a few early human populations in Asia where a sophisticated agriculture
had developed. The Chinese citrus growers placed nests of predaceous ants, Oncophylla smaradina, in
trees where the ants fed on foliage-feeding insects. Bamboo bridges were constructed to assist the ants
in their movements from tree to tree. Date growers in Yemen went to North Africa to collect colonies of
predaceous ants which they colonized in date groves to control various pests.

Insect Parasitoidism was not recognized until the turn of the 17th Century. The first record is
attributed to the Italian, Aldrovandi (1602). He observed the cocoons of Apanteles glomeratus being
attached to larvae of Pieris rapae (the imported cabbageworm). He incorrectly thought that the
cocoons were insect eggs. Printed illustrations of parasitoids are found in Metamorphosis by J. Goedart
(1662) <PHOTO>. He described "small flies" emerging from butterfly pupae. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
in 1700 (van Leeuwenhoek 1702) described the phenomenon of parasitoidism in insects. He drew a
female parasitoid ovipositing in aphid hosts. Vallisnieri (1706) <PHOTO> first correctly interpreted this
host-parasitoid association and probably became the first to report the existence of parasitoids.
Bodenheimer (1931), however, noted that several earlier entomologists recognized the essence of
parasitoidism. Cestoni (1706) reported other parasitoids from eggs of cruciferous insects. He called
aphids, "cabbage sheep," and their parasitoids, "wolf mosquitoes." Erasmus Darwin (1800) discussed
the useful role of parasitoids and predators in regulating insect pests.
 During the remainder of the 18th Century an ever-increasing number of references to
entomophagous and entomogenous organisms appeared in the literature, largely in the form of papers
dealing with parasitoid biologies. Diseases of silkworms were recognized early in the 18th Century. De
Reamur (1726) <PHOTO> described and illustrated Cordyceps fungus infecting a noctuid larva.

Biological Control Efforts in the 18th Century

By 1762 the first successful importation of an organism from one country to another for biological
control took place with the introduction of the mynah bird from India to the island of Mauritius, for
locust control.

Further development of modern biological control awaited the recognition of the fact that insect pest
problems were population phenomena. The controversial publications of Malthus appeared toward the
end of the 18th Century, and generated considerable interest in the subject of populations. Malthus'
work will be discussed further in the next section on "Concepts in Population Ecology."

Biological Control Efforts in the Early 19th Century

A number of articles appeared during the first half of the 19th Century that lauded the beneficial effects
of entomophagous insects. Erasmus Darwin (1800) recommended protecting and encouraging syrphid
flies and ichneumonid wasps because they destroyed considerable numbers of cabbage-feeding
caterpillars. Kirby & Spence (1815) [see <PHOTO>] showed that predaceous coccinellids controlled
aphids. Hartig (1827) recommended the construction of large rearing cages for parasitized caterpillars,
with the ultimate aim of mass release. Ratzeberg (ca. 1828) <PHOTO> called particular attention to the
value of parasitic insects with publication of a large volume on the parasitoids of forest insects in
Germany. He did not believe that parasitic control could be augmented by humans. Agustino Bassi
(1834) first demonstrated that a microorganism, Beauvaria bassiana, caused an animal disease, namely
the muscardine disease of silkworms. Kollär <PHOTO> (1837) writing an article for farmers, foresters
and gardeners pointed out the importance of entomophagous insects in nature's economy; studied
parasitoid biologies and was the first to report the existence of egg parasitoids. Boisgiraud (1843)
reported that he used the predaceous carabid beetle, Calasoma sycophanta, to successfully control
gypsy moth larvae on poplars growing near his home in rural France. He also reported that he had
destroyed earwigs in his garden by introducing predaceous staphylinid beetles.

Biological Control in the Late 19th Century

Beginning in 1850, events associated with the westward expansion of agriculture in the United States
paved the way for the further development of the field of biological control. During and following the
"Gold Rush" in California, agriculture expanded tremendously in California especially. At first the new
and expanded plantings escaped the ravages of arthropod pests. Predictably, however, crops soon
began to suffer from destructive arthropod outbreaks. Many of these pests were found to be of foreign
origin, and were observed to be far more destructive in the newly colonized areas than in their native
countries. Consequently, the notion grew that perhaps these pests had escaped from some regulatory
factor or factors during their accidental introduction into America.
Asa Fitch <PHOTO> (1855) was the State Entomologist of New York who is recorded as the first
entomologist to seriously consider the transfer of beneficial insects from one country to another for the
control of an agricultural pest. Fitch suggested that the European parasitoids of the wheat midge,
Sitydiplosis mesellana, be sent into the eastern United States.

Benjamin Walsh <PHOTO> supported Fitch's suggestion and in 1866 he became the first worker in the
United States to suggest that insects be employed in weed control. He proposed that insects feeding on
toadflax, Linaria vulgaris, be imported from Europe to control invaded yellow toad flax plants. The first
actual case of biological control of weeds was, nevertheless, in Asia, where around 1865 the cochineal
insect Dactylopius ceylonicus was introduced from southern India into Ceylon for prickly pear cactus
control (Opuntia