12 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



so many occasions his views on so many broad subjects, backed 

 by bis mature judgment and supported by his great wealth of 

 knowledge, is an experience and a pleasure which none of us 

 will ever forget. 



But in speaking thus of Doctor Gill, we must not fail to men- 

 tion another, and this one an entomologist. I think the newer 

 men already appreciate what I am about to say, but I must 

 emphasize it. Years ago B. Pickman Mann once said to me, 

 r 'The principal reason for the existence of the Entomological 

 Society is E. A. Schwarz.' 1 Is it not true? What an indiffer- 

 ent meeting it would be without him ! There are volumes upon 

 volumes of entomological knowledge packed away in his brain, 

 and with tables of contents and elaborate indices prepared for 

 instant use. This unexampled store of entomological infor- 

 mation is always at hand and ready for use in our discussions- 

 is always ready to be imparted in the kindliest and most human- 

 istic spirit to every worker. We should perhaps paraphrase 

 Mann's saying, and put it thus: What has made the Entomo- 

 logical Society valuable to us beyond all other organizations 

 has been the constant presence and participation in its discus- 

 sions of Eugene A. Schwarz and Theodore N. Gill. 



The most cursory of glances through the Proceedings will 

 serve to emphasize what has just been stated. On one page we 

 see that Mr. Schwarz spoke on the composition and extent of 

 the coleopterous fauna of Alaska, and on the next page Doctor 

 Gill is reported to have said that Mr. Schwarz's statements 

 were reinforced by the distribution of other animals, discussing 

 the mollusks and fishes and mammals. And so it goes. 



While the discussions have been broad beyond the confines 

 of insect knowledge the papers read have practically been con- 

 fined entirely to the different aspects of entomological science. 

 There was one exception, however. On November 1, 1894, 

 Doctor Gill presented a paper on a remarkable new family of 

 crabs, and stated that he thought himself justified in presenting 

 the paper before an entomological society for the reason that 

 in his opinion the Crustacea are more closely related to the 

 Insecta than are the Arachnida. A vigorous discussion ensued. 



The present speaker frankly stated that he had voted against 

 the reception of the paper by the Program Committee on the 

 ground that however loose the definition of the word "entomol- 

 ogy" may be, it is generally understood to refer to the class 

 Insecta, and that the scope of this class is so enormous that 

 the tendency of the Society should be to contract rather than to 

 expand the range of topics considered at its meetings. The ad- 



