OF WASHINGTON. 17 



date, and containing one, or, at most, a few pages. Kvery one 

 knows what mischief and confusion in the nomenclature and 

 classification of Lepidoptera have been brought about by 

 Jacob Hiibner's Tentamen and Verzeichniss, of which, up to 

 our days, and in spite of much discussion and investigation, 

 nobody knows when they were published, or whether they, 

 should be considered as publications, or whether the author 

 himself ever considered the former as such. In Switzerland 

 the custom prevailed for a series of years among the scientists 

 of presenting new year or birthday congratulations in the form 

 of a privately-printed, tract, and since these were issued only 

 in a single, or, at most, a few copies, no one knows whether 

 or not to consider them as publications. Also in the form of 

 university programs and dissertations, and in the programs of 

 gymnasiums and high schools, which never came into circula 

 tion, many entomological papers by the older authors have 

 been completely buried out of sight. 



The most satisfactory and most accessible form of publication 

 of smaller articles is undoubtedly in journals exclusively de 

 voted to a particular branch of science. Such serials were 

 either issued by societies or single individuals or publishing 

 firms. This last-mentioned form antedates in entomological 

 science by far the society publications, and the honor of having 

 produced the first entomological journal of this kind belongs 

 to Switzerland, where, as early as 1778, an enthusiastic ento 

 mologist and bookseller, Mr. J. C. Fiiessly, started the "Maga 

 zine for Amateurs of Entomology, ' ' of which several volumes 

 were issued, and this was quickly followed by others, e. g, , 

 Illiger's Magazine, Germar's Magazine, etc.. To-day quite a 

 number of such journals flourish in England, Germany, France 

 and Austria. I count as the total of such European journals no 

 less than twenty-eight, of which sixteen are extinct and twelve 

 still living. In North America this class of literature did not 

 make its appearance until quite recently, and the efforts made to 

 introduce it have hitherto been very short-lived, not on account 

 of the poor quality of these journals, but from lack of support on 

 the part of the entomologists. In fact, one of the most striking 

 characteristics of the North American entomologists is that 



