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just where I had said it would not. It seems to me that the best 

 we can do, for the present, is to record exact localities of occur 

 rence, no matter how common or rare the species may be, and, 

 some time, the laws that govern the movements of species among 

 insects will begin to show. I would not for a moment discour 

 age such papers as Mr. Howard's, though, possibly, a more con 

 servative view would have been more judicious. 



In my paper to which previous references have been made I 

 stated that this insect occurred in northern New Jersey. This 

 was corrected in my bulletin, but not in Science. I should have 

 said southern New Jersey. 



In discussing this paper, Mr. Howard stated that in his closing 

 sentences Mr. Webster had caught very happily the spirit which 

 prompted the original paper. The views expressed in this orig 

 inal paper he had made every effort to restrain within conserva 

 tive bounds. No positive claims were made. It was a plea for 

 exact records of injurious appearances of our principal insect 

 foes, and the instances which were adduced and which, from the 

 nature of things, must at the present time have been based upon 

 negative evidence were brought forward as seeming to indicate 

 restrictions in the spread of pests not holding with their food- 

 plants, and thus indicating, in the most forcible way possible, the 

 desirability of accumulating evidence which should not be nega 

 tive. That the paper has already done much good is at once 

 shown by the fact that it has stimulated so careful a rejoinder as 

 this of Mr. Webster's. That it has excited widespread interest 

 among economic entomologists is evidenced by extensive cor 

 respondence received. That the stimulus which it has given to 

 investigation in this direction will ultimately bring about some 

 good result cannot be doubted, whether the results confirm or 

 overthrow the suggestions made in the original paper. As to the 

 ultimate truth of the general idea that natural selection cannot 

 contend with artificial selection but can only follow it after the 

 lapse of years, the speaker had no doubt. One of the very cases 

 brought up by Mr. Webster, viz., that of Murgantia histrionica, 

 one which seems to puzzle Mr. Webster greatly, is confirmatory 

 even at the present time. This insect reached Delaware 20 years 

 ago, and yet since that time it has only been found at one more 



