Entomology has for the most part been taxonomic - entomologists have been collecting different insects, pinning them to sheets of cork and describing them in great detail. While this may sound very Victorian and anti-conservation minded, without the taxonomic knowledge built by western science over the last 300 years, ecology, the study of the way different plants and animals (including inserts) interact would not be possible.

En`to*mol"o*gy (?), n.; pl. Entomologies (#). [Gr. 'e`ntomon insect (so called because nearly cut in two, fr. 'e`ntomos cut in; 'en in + te`mnein to cut) + -logy: cf. F. entomologie. See In, and Tome, and cf. Insect.]

1.

That part of zoology which treats of insects.

2.

A treatise on the science of entomology.

© Webster 1913.