274 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



tions from the lower places, and a man of ability entering at the 

 very bottom, with a salary of perhaps 800 florins ($320) a year, 

 may ultimately reach the highest position in the museum, viz., 

 that of " intendant " or official head. The officers of the museum 

 are retired after forty years' service, on full salary, and if they 

 choose to retire after twenty years' service, are paid thereafter 

 one-half the salary received at that time of retirement. The hours 

 of work are from 9 to 2 o'clock, and six weeks' annual vacation 

 is granted. 



The acting head of the museum at the time of my visit was 

 Doctor Frederick Brauer, the famous dipterologist, who held the 

 position in the absence of one or two persons still above him in 

 rank. Unfortunately, Dr. Brauer was found very busy with an 

 official meeting of the heads of different departments, and was 

 able to see the writer but for a moment. Under the guidance, 

 however, of Mr. Anton Handlirsch, one of the curators, a 

 complete survey of the department of insects was made. 

 In this museum the importance of the entomological work 

 is fully recognized, and some six of the twelve men working in 

 zoology are assigned to the Department of Insects, including such 

 well-known names as Doctor Frederick Brauer, who has general 

 charge and is Curator of Diptera and Neuroptera ; Mr. Anton 

 Handlirsch, Curator of Hemiptera ; Doctor L. Ganglbauer, 

 Curator of Coleoptera and Orthoptera ; Franz Kohl, Curator of 

 Hymenoptera, and Doctor H. Rebel, Curator of Lepidoptera. 



The insect boxes employed here are of large size, nearly as 

 large as the old boxes formerly employed in our National Museum , 

 and are of very simple character, the glazed cover fitting with one 

 flange into the bottom of the box, and the shoulders being lined 

 with chamois skin to make a close joining. These trays or boxes 

 are kept in large, low cabinets, arranged for the most part in the 

 centre of the rooms. The collections are protected from pests by 

 frequent inspections and the security afforded by the chamois-skin 

 lining mentioned, and also by the inclosing cabinets, which are 

 well made. 



In Vienna there is no official entomological bureau charged 

 with the economic phases of the science for the Austro-Hungarian 

 Empire as a whole. Whatever information the government may 

 desire, from time to time, relative to insects, is gained by direct 



