160 PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 24, NO. 7-8, OCT. -NOV., 1922 



with the idea that some material of interest would be found in 

 poetry, the writer finds himself literally overwhelmed and seri- 

 ously embarrassed by such an avalanche of excerpts as to render 

 difficult the choice of material for discussion. Although the 

 present paper is but a glance at the subject, nevertheless it has 

 involved the scanning of approximately 650,000 lines and has 

 resulted in the accumulation of more than 1200 separate excerpts 

 and about 75 complete poems from the writings of 150 poets. 

 Most of this work has been done during the leisure hours of the 

 past year, but when completed, the collection will be deposited 

 in the library of the Federal Bureau of Entomology, where, the 

 author hopes, it may form the nucleus for a complete dictionary 

 of the entomology of poetry. In the course of this investigation 

 it has not been possible to examine very many of the minor poets 

 because of the restrictions of time. Neither has the Bible been 

 included in the field of endeavor, principally because the zoology 

 of that greatest of epics has been rather fully investigated 'here- 

 tofore, and the necessity of excluding generally such works as 

 are frankly translations from other languages. It is true, of 

 course, that the writings of practically all the earlier English 

 bards, down to the time of Wordsworth and Cowper, are com- 

 posed quite extensively of paraphrastic excerpts or translations 

 from the Latin or French poets. In point of fact, it is useless 

 to attempt to read them intelligently without previous acquain- 

 tance with the history and mythology of ancient Greece. Most 

 scholars of the period deemed indispensably necessary at least 

 some slight allusion in their writings to the gods, goddesses and 

 demi-gods of the Greeks as a demonstration of scholarship. A 

 reflection of this habit is found in the works of the great pioneer 

 zoologists and entomologists. Linneaeus and his pupil Fabri- 

 cius, for instance, applied mythological names to many of the 

 larger American butterflies and their example has been followed 

 extensively by later writers on'this subject. Thus there has 

 been formed a more or less artificial link of sympathy between 

 poetry and entomology. 



It is said that in mediaeval times fragments of entomology 

 and other sciences were memorized by incorporating them in 

 verse or doggerel rhymes. 



The "entomology of poetry"! At first blush this expression 

 seems a contradiction in terms. What natural relation possibly 

 can exist between poetry and "bugs"? As well mention 

 "music and sauer-kraut" or "lilies-of-the-valley and garlic" 

 as attempt to couple the mention of insects with the Muse. 

 What has one of the most ancient forms of English literature to 

 do with what is, perhaps, the very youngest of the natural 

 sciences ? 



Absurd as this relationship may seem at first glance, an 

 examination of the poets of the English language, from Ch'aucer 



