180 
TWO PRINCIPAL WORKS OF ROBINEAU-DESVOIDY 
recht geben, auch wenn ich keinen Namen nenne. Wir fragen aber, soli denu 
so etwas die Sadie der Wissenschaft niitzen?” 
In his notices about my papers Mik more than once fell into 
error in consequence of his very limited knowledge of the English 
language (compare Wiener Ent. Zeit., 1884, p. 27, about Apiocera ; 
ibid., 1897, p. 32, about Curupira and Snowia, etc.). Such slips 
will be mentioned at their proper places in this “ Record.” One of 
them especially deserves attention, Mile’s mistake about the mean¬ 
ing of the term piracy , in the sense of plagiarism. He took it in 
the literal sense, and resented that I had called him a buccaneer 
(“ Seerauber ”). My explanation and his reply to it (Wiener Ent. 
Zeit., 1897, p. 212) may be considered as a slight contribution to 
the “gaiety of nations” (156, 1897). 
Mik’s numerous publications are open to many other criticisms; 
but, as my intention was to describe Mik’s manner rather than his 
matter, what I have given here will be sufficient for my purpose. 
It will belong to others to pass a final judgment upon the merit of 
Mik’s work on the Diptera of central Europe. That is not my 
specialty. In this notice I have attempted to prove that Mik, with 
the advantages which he had, might have done much more for dip- 
terology if it had not been for the peculiarities of his character. 
Loew was therefore right in his estimate of Mik, which I have re¬ 
produced above (p. 174). 
XXIII NOTICE ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE PUBLICATION 
OF TWO PRINCIPAL WORKS (1830, 1863) OF ROBINEAU- 
DESVOIDY 
R o b i n e a u-D e s v o i d y was twenty-seven years old when he 
presented to the Academy of Sciences of Paris his voluminous 
manuscript of the “ Myodaires,” that had cost him several 
years of labor. The competent members of this institution were 
at once struck with the great merit of the work, and with the new 
method of study which it introduced. A committee was appointed, 
which consisted of the greatest zoological authorities of that time: 
Latreille (1762-1833), then aged sixty-five, and at the height of his 
