Silent Spring: Chapters 7–9

Cats, who so meticulously groom their coats and lick their paws, seemed to be most affected.

Between 1920 and 1933, as a result of diligent searching throughout the native range of the beetle, some 34 species of predatory or parasitic insects had been imported from the Orient in an effort to establish natural control.

The poison forms a tenacious film over the leaves and bark.

The feeding habits of all these birds not only make them especially vulnerable to insect sprays but also make their loss a deplorable one for economic as well as less tangible reasons.

Laboratory application of these studies to eagles presents difficulties that are nearly insuperable, but field studies are now under way in Florida, New Jersey, and elsewhere in the hope of acquiring definite evidence as to what has caused the apparent sterility of much of the eagle population.

The reports differ in detail, but always repeat the theme of death to wildlife in the wake of pesticides.

The budworm populations, instead of dwindling as expected, have proved refractory, and from 1955 to 1957 spraying was repeated in various parts of New Brunswick and Quebec, some places being sprayed as many as three times.

Although spraying was then tentatively suspended, a sudden resurgence of budworms led to its resumption in 1960 and 1961.

Although spraying has been tried as a weapon against the ubiquitous budworm, the areas affected have been relatively small and have not, as yet, included important spawning streams for salmon.

This is not surprising, because in time of physiological stress the organism, be it fish or man, draws on stored fat for energy.

This means, then, that every third year the run of salmon into this river will be almost nonexistent, until such time as careful management, by artificial propagation or other means, has been able to rebuild this commercially important run.

So extensive were the reported kills of fish, frogs, and other life of the waters that the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, a venerable scientific organization devoted to the study of fishes, reptiles, and amphibians, passed a resolution in 1958 calling on the Department of Agriculture and the associated state agencies to cease “aerial distribution of heptachlor, dieldrin, and equivalent poisons — before irreparable harm is done.”

They are linked so intimately and indispensably with the lives of many fishes, mollusks, and crustaceans that were they no longer habitable these seafoods would disappear from our tables.

Baby tarpon are abundant in all that labyrinth of mangrove-lined streams and canals bordering the lower third of the western coast of Florida.

Although sedentary in adult life, they discharge their spawn into the sea, where the young are free-living for a period of several weeks.