186 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, '04 



The ornithologists have tried to regulate cases of this kind, 

 and Canon XXI of their code reads, " When no type is clearly 

 indicated, the author who first subivides a genus may restrict 

 the original name to such part of it as he may judge advisable, 

 and such assignment shall not be subject to subsequent modi- 

 fication." 



This seems in accord with justice and common sense, and 

 this rule has been generally observed by American authors. 

 I am sorry that Dr. Holland has accepted a nomenclature in 

 conflict with it, because personally I shall not feel able to accept 

 the changes. 



There is only one real entity in nature, and that is the indi- 

 vidual. No two specimens are exactly alike, however much 

 they resemble each other. Each has a combination of charac- 

 ters peculiar to itself and which it may transmit to its pro- 

 geny, in whole or in part, or with some modifications. An 

 aggregation of individuals which mate freely and produce fer- 

 tile young is a species, and most species may also be considered 

 as natural divisions. Individual variation does not go beyond 

 a limited range, and it nowhere touches or encroaches upon the 

 range of another species. But, while this is true in general, 

 there are exceptions, indicating that the process of species- 

 making is yet a part of Nature's evolution. This, however, 

 forms a topic too large for an address of this kind. 



When we leave the species, Nature places no restriction 

 upon the systematist. He can make genera, families, super- 

 families, and orders as he pleases, and may base them upon 

 any characters that seem good to him. 



It may be possible some day for entomologists to reach some 

 common ground upon which all may and will stand ; but the 

 present is a stiff-necked generation, of which every individual 

 believes that he is pretty nearly right, and I am not counting 

 upon the arrival of the happy day in my lifetime. 



THE tick mentioned in ENT. NEWS, Vol. XIV, p. 212, has been kept 

 in the small turned wooden box with a tight-fitting lid, and" has not had 

 any food or water. The box has been kept in a roll-top desk, closed at 

 nights. At this date, May ist, the tick is alive and hearty, and is now 

 nearly two years old. H. SKINNER. 



