224' ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Oct., '19 



are not to be found among those who pursue the study as an 

 avocation, often interested more particularly in other orders, 

 but rather among the students of agricultural colleges where 

 entomology occupies a large share of attention and each of 

 the various groups of insects presumably receives due notice. 

 Many of these student collectors are to become professional 

 entomologists and yet their instructors, in many cases, fail to 

 insist upon this elementary matter of adequate skill in mount- 

 ing specimens and preserving them in a condition fit for study. 

 Still, perhaps this is what we might reasonably expect. To 

 my mind this state of affairs is one of the manifestations of 

 the "practical" spirit which is making such notable headway 

 in the state universities the same spirit which eliminates the 

 study of the classics, elevates every trifling trade to the dignity 

 of an academic pursuit, and in general places the things of the 

 dollar above the things of the spirit. The science of entomol- 

 ogy has reached its present state of advancement very largely 

 through the unpaid effort, the labor of love, of enthusiasts, 

 and we may hardly look for any progress that is worth while, 

 in the technique of mounting specimens or in matters of 

 higher import, if entomologists, professional or otherwise, 

 come to be actuated as a class by any spirit other than that of 

 the true amateur. 



Among the dealers also are many who display a hopeless 

 lack of skill in mounting specimens, probably because of the 

 same fundamental reason ; the shining exceptions 'are invari- 

 ably men who love the study for itself, quite apart from any 

 commercial interest. In spite of the immense labor involved, 

 it is usually necessary for the purchaser to order his speci- 

 mens unmounted and to provide his own printed labels, if he 

 is to obtain materials worth keeping. Strange indeed that in 

 the case of dealers practical considerations do not lead to 

 proficiency in the methods required in mounting insects of the 

 various orders. Slovenly mounting is an unmixed, wide spread, 

 and unnecessary evil ; poorly mounted specimens are frequent- 

 ly almost worthless for purposes of study and always quite 

 unfit for admission to the collection of the student who feels 



