266 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Oct., '05 



of Philadelphia, which so many libraries and entomologists 

 are clamoring for ? Has there been a publication more " ephe- 

 meral," more "difficult to obtain," or a greater stumbling 

 block to rising entomologists. In like manner the "pitiable 

 sorrows ' ' of the European Hymenopterists in connection with 

 Invertebrata Pacifica can be quickly assuaged through the 

 medium of a little remittance. 



That publications which depend upon one person are 

 necessarily obscure, sporadic and ephemeral is not at all in 

 consonance with the history of American Entomology. What 

 about Entomologica Americana, Papilio, Bulletion of the 

 Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, and a dozen others which 

 might easily be mentioned, and if there are an}* more difficult 

 to obtain than some of these things published by societies and 

 academies in times past, or even some being published now, 

 or that have proven more " obscure," " sporadic " or " ephe- 

 meral," I should be interested to know of them. On the 

 other hand, a considerable number of the most interesting and 

 valuable journals and reports now being published in America 

 and in Europe are purely private enterprises, and to my mind 

 much more generally satisfactory and useful to the individual 

 worker since they generally serve a single interest instead of 

 the always diversified and usually warring interests of a societ)*. 

 And what periodical, even though published under the auspices 

 of some society, cannot point back to the enthusiasm, energy 

 and sacrifice of some single individual as its usual mainstay. 

 In a last analysis if the truth be known success in most 

 scientific societies and publications is due to the untiring, in- 

 dependent efforts of some single whole-souled votary of Science, 

 who does the work while the society gets the credit. 



My final remark in connection with the series of reports en- 

 titled ' ' Invertebrata Pacifica ' ' will be to refer all those inter- 

 ested to the contents of these reports, which I do not think 

 that any student in America can be without, since they contain 

 as large an amount of important descriptive and monographic 

 work as any similar series of reports ever issued in this country, 

 and they will be continued at irregular intervals until all the 

 material of these western collections has been reported upon 



