110 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



in a general way without specifying the person or persons. In 

 summarizing the authors quoted at the end of Book XI he men 

 tions some 21 Roman and 25 foreign writers, but as more than 

 one-half of the book deals with other animals, one-half of the 

 references probably concern other subjects. As early even as 

 the time of Reaumur, however, in spite of the latter's complaint 

 of the dearth of literature, there must have been many entomo 

 logical works if they could have been made accessible. Linne", 

 only a few years after Reaumur, consulted or referred to some 

 where between 75 and 100 authors, but mentions about 30 only 

 as important (i2th edition), and Geoffroy towards the close of 

 the same century (1799) refers to a little over 50 authors. 



Kirby and Spence, in the preparation of their Introduction to 

 Entomology, consulted some 262 authors, referring among others 

 to Lord Bacon, Erasmus Darwin, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas 

 Tusser, and Isaac Walton, and most of the old writers who have 

 already been mentioned in the preceding pages. They also con 

 sulted the transactions of some 14 societies and 19 periodical 

 works, of which 4 only were strictly entomological, and these 

 all in German. 



The vast number of entomological papers and works which 

 began to appear about this time is indicated by the complaint of 

 Lacordaire, writing early in the present century. He says : 

 " Their number is such and they succeed each other so rapidly 

 that one of the principal difficulties for those who cultivate the 

 science seriously is to keep track of the innumerable publications 

 which flood us from all quarters." 



Hagen's monumental work, " Bibliotheca Entomologica," 

 brings the record of the literature relating to insects from the 

 earliest times down to the year 1862. He lists some 4,766 au 

 thors and enumerates 18,130 distinct titles, together with 851 

 anonymous publications. Vast as this collection is, it is neces 

 sarily far from being a complete list of the writings on insects 

 up to that time. It must be remembered, however, that a large 

 percentage of the titles enumerated by Hagen relate to bees and 

 silk-worms, and that many of the papers are very brief and un 

 important. On the other hand, many of the works are very 

 extensive, often amounting to many volumes, and it therefore 



