OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XI, 19Q9. 13 



mission of papers on Arachnida had been from the beginning 

 largely a matter of courtesy and precedent. 



Doctor Gill, on the other hand, argued that the word "ento- 

 mology" should apply to the whole group Arthropoda, and T 

 wonder whether he holds the same view now. T once heard 

 Doctor Gill at the Cosmos Club arguing vigorously against the 

 possibility of the existence of such a creature as the sea-ser- 

 pent, buton the very next night, happening in to the club, I heard 

 him give an elaborate argument, and a quite convincing one, 

 that there is a strong possibility that such a creature as the 

 sea-serpent may still exist! That showed me for the first time 

 that Doctor Gill rather likes to argue, and that, at the Cosmos 

 Club it makes very little difference which side of the argument 

 he takes. I hope and believe that it is different at the Entomo- 

 logical Society. 



I '.tit in regard to the crab paper. I am glad to state that Mr. 

 Schwarz agreed with me. He said that arachnologists have af- 

 filiated with entomological societies largely because they are so 

 few in number and because there are no more nearly related 

 associations of specialists. There was no hard feeling in the 

 discussion, which changed immediately into a broad morpho- 

 logical field apropos to the hind legs of the crabs under discus- 

 sion having apparently developed into breathing organs, and 

 the whole group of insects was discussed for comparable de- 

 velopments and a number were pointed out. lUit it is notice- 

 able that no more papers on crabs have been read before the 

 Society since that night. 



How many interesting meetings have been held ! A long 

 succession of them stand out plainly in my eye. I recall the 

 earnest faces ; I can hear the voices of all who are gone : I 

 can hear the ready laughter which followed a quaint remark 

 of Lugger or of Marx, and even now it bubbles out as sponta- 

 neously at one of Srhwarz's humorous turns of expression. 



One of the meetings which none of us who were there will 

 forget and there were only eight of us was held February 

 7, 1S ( >5. at my house in Georgetown. It had been snowing all 

 day. and from 3 o'clock snow l.ad been coming down so rapid- 

 ly that it was impossible to see ten feet in from of one. T ex- 

 pected no guests as I looked out into the still whiteness, but at 

 7.45 the door-bell rang, and ! opened the door to find a white 

 pillar standing there which shook itself and re\<-alcd the smil- 

 ing face of Doctor Gill. The bell rang again, and in came 

 Schwarz and Marlatt. and then lienton and Coquillett. and 

 finally a shouting was heard without: the dour was opened, 

 and there was Ashmead and a cab driver floundering around 



