68 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



In 1892, Dr. J. B. Smith, ex-curator and a Lepidopterist, vis 

 ited London, and secured a promise from a well-known gentleman 

 of the gift of his collection, probably the largest in the American 

 fauna, as a whole, in existence. But Dr. Smith was no longer in 

 charge of the collection at Washington, which was entering upon 

 its period of stagnation. General confidence in the national col 

 lection as a fit repository for valuable material gradually waned. 

 This was to a certain extent unjust, as the material was well cared 

 for, though not actively elaborated. So, under advice of fellow 

 entomologists, the promise lapsed and Mr. Schaus gave the whole 

 of his non-American material to the American Museum of Natu 

 ral History in New York. This museum had in charge a com 

 petent curator actively interested in Lepidoptera. 



Within the last year only have Mr. Schaus' American butter 

 flies been secured for Washington, but by an entirely new arrange 

 ment 



It may not be out of place to notice the collection of Orthop- 

 tera in the National Museum, because this so well illustrates in 

 its present state the condition into which a collection falls without 

 a specialist in charge. The Orthoptera are the only order of 

 insects which have never been in charge of a specialist nor had 

 any attention from a resident student. A part of the collection is 

 in museum drawers, through the labors of Messrs. Linell and Cur- 

 rie at odd times, but most is still in the old dangerous double 

 book boxes and Schmitt boxes belonging to the Department of 

 Agriculture. Museum pests have been very generally excluded, 

 but the moving and removing of the boxes out of the way of more 

 active collections has caused specimens to become loosened and 

 fall about, creating considerable damage. No opportunity for 

 repairs has been offered. The collection is, as a whole, sadly dis 

 arranged. New material could not be incorporated from lack of 

 time and from unfamiliarity with the classification of the order, 

 so that each accession is separately placed in its drawer or set of 

 boxes. Glaring errors in identification occur, species of different 

 groups, superficially similar, being placed above the same label. 

 There is no attempt at securing new material on a regular plan, 

 the accessions being all by chance. What degree of order exists 

 is mostly due to the study given certain groups by specialists to 

 whom they have been loaned. But this method has disadvan- 



