June, '04] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 179 



should span the box. It is preferable to strips of black paper 

 or ruled lines because it can be shifted at will, and if properly 

 made is always strong and straight. The Schmitt box is 

 usually divided into four columns running from bact to front. 



Some Remarks on Classification.* 

 BY JOHN B. SMITH, Sc.D. 



Whenever there is a new list in any order, whether the time 

 between lists be long or short, there is an outcry against 

 changes ; a feeling of irritation and disgust because of the 

 necessity of learning new names and rearranging cabinets. 

 And that is not the least of it : old species meet us under 

 unfamiliar names, not only generic but specific ; while well- 

 known generic names are used in a way that brings despair to 

 the older men with the habits of a lifetime to unlearn. 



Lepidopterists have had of recent date no less than four dis- 

 tinct shocks. For ten years there had been peace, and every- 

 body had gotten used to the list edited by me in 1891. That 

 list, prepared with the co-operation of special students in the 

 leading families, fairly represented the then generally accepted 

 classification, save that more family divisions were recognized. 

 It was realized that the order of families was not a natural one, 

 and that there was no uniformity in the value of the divisions. 

 It was a check-list and little more. 



In 1902 Dr. Harrison G. Dyar published in Bulletin No. 52 

 of the U. S. National Museum "A List of North American 

 Lepidoptera and Key to the Literature of this Order of Insects. ' ' 

 This was revolutionary in character, and expressed the views 

 of the author on classification and on synonymy. While much 

 of this scheme of classification was original with Dr. Dyar, it 

 was not all presented for the first time and, within family lim- 

 its, the arrangement and synonymy expressed the views of his 

 collaborateurs. But it was the first time the scheme was pre- 

 sented as a whole to the lepidopterists of the country and they 



* Read at the annual meeting of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 

 as a Presidential address. 



