1893-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 115 



Collections of the American Entomological Society. 



ED. NEWS. Will you kindly permit me, through your col- 

 umns, to say a few words regarding the value of the American 

 Entomological Society to the scientific worker. I did not fully 

 appreciate its importance until I spent the past Winter in Phila- 

 delphia, and am certain no one will give a heartier welcome or 

 grant more privileges than its members. It has specialists in 

 almost every order of insects, and some orders have several. 

 The collection, as a whole, is a fine one, and, through the work 

 and generous donations of these men, it has in special lines be- 

 come very complete. Perhaps no one there has done more for 

 the Entomological Department than Mr. E. T. Cresson, our dis- 

 tinguished Hymenopterist. His entire collection, including types, 

 has been given to the Society. A student working in this 

 order will find no other collection that nearly equals it. Al- 

 though Mr. Cresson has given up further work, he is ever ready 

 and willing to aid others in any way that he can. Mr. Fox is 

 taking up the work where it was left, and is adding his share to 

 make it more complete. In Lepidoptera the collection has been 

 kept up to date and improved in many ways by Dr. Skinner. 

 He has added many fine specimens in Rhopalocera, which is his 

 specialty. Dr. Horn and others have done much to make the 

 collection in Coleoptera what it is. Mr. Liebeck is just rearrang- 

 ing the large and very complete collection, so that it is in fine 

 condition for study. The general order Neuroptera is growing 

 very fast through the work of Mr. Calvert, and is very strong in 

 Odonata. The collection in Diptera is becoming a very respect- 

 able one through the work of Mr. Johnson. These are only :i 

 few of the many entomological workers that help each year to 

 add to and improve the collection in many ways. 



But these fine collections in the various orders would be of 

 little value was there not something else to go with them. Right 

 adjoining, as handy as can be, is one of the finest and most com- 

 plete scientific libraries there is. Foreign as well as American 

 books, pamphlets and magazines are kept, and many a rare pub- 

 lication is found on its shelves that the general entomologist has 

 never seen. It is the combining of both the library and collection 

 supplemented by a live, active corps of specialists that makes the 

 Society an inducement worthy of careful consideration by the 

 student specialist. G. C. DAVIS, Agr. College, Michigan. 



