In spite of any knowledge, recognition, or lack of these, man has had both benefit and serious harm from insects from his appearance on earth. Remains somewhat doubtfully identified as insects, have been recovered from Silurian rocks 200 to 300 million years old while unquestioned insects are known from the Old Red Sandstone and from shales of Devonian age, somewhat more recent. By Carboniferous times, 200 million years or so ago, insects were abundant. All the orders and many present-day genera are known from Tertiary deposits-many of which are 50 million years old. I think it may be assumed from this that many, if not most, of the present day insect species had already acquired their characteristic habits by Recent geological time when man appeared 500,000 or, at most, 1,000,000 years ago. Thus, man and undoubtedly his immediate progenitors, had insect competitors for much of his food and clothing, when he started to use it; pestiferous insects interfered with his activities and disturbed his primitive peace of mind, disease vectors spread pestilence and misery, and parasites infested his person. In fact, “Adam had ‘em” and our ancestors were, without exception, lousy, literally, if not figuratively. On the other hand insects furnished honey, the only sweet known to man until almost modern times, and whenever insect epidemics destroyed the harvest of ancient Agriculture, man was able to subsist for a little while on the insects themselves. Caterpillars, fat grubs and many other insects were delicacies in the dietary of almost all primitive people and of many tribes attaining barbaric or even higher cultural status.