42 PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 22, NO. 3, MAR., 1920 



His influence on the study in this country was further aug- 

 mented by his live interest in the work of younger American 

 workers and his generous never-failing assistance to them both 

 in specimens and information. 



Lord Walsingham accumulated an enormous and priceless 

 collection of Microlepidoptera from all over the world, which, 

 together with his very complete library, was transferred as a gift 

 to the British Museum in 1910. This collection he acquired by 

 purchase and gifts, but in no small part also by his own diligent 

 collecting. He was in this as in all other phases of his life, a 

 strenuous enthusiast, working long hours without fatigue, ob- 

 taining thus not only carefully preserved specimens but a keen 

 knowledge of the living moths, their biology, characteristic posi- 

 tions and habits. He had a very remarkable eye for specific 

 differences both of the living insect and in the pinned specimens. 

 In the woods of his estate, Merton Hall, he knew off hand by their 

 flight and superficial aspects alone all the species to be met with. 



The dominant characteristic of Lord Walsingham, expressed 

 in the motto on his coat of arms "Excitari non hibescere"- 

 was his refusal to stagnate and his ability even at an advanced 

 age to keep in touch with and accept new ideas. 



He readily recognized the progress in classification made by 

 younger workers and unhesitatingly adopted such, advanced it, 

 made it his own with liberal acknowledgment and applied it 

 even when it meant the refutation of his own earlier work. 



His uncompromising, acceptance after mature study, at the 

 age of sixty-five, of new systematic ideas, necessitating a complete 

 renunciation of some of his earlier work and the placing in the 

 synonomy of dozens of his own genera, such as Lord Walsingham 

 carried out in his last large contributions (The Microlepidoptera 

 of Teneriffe and the Biologica Centrali Americani, Vol. IV), 

 is indeed a most remarkable testimony to his youthful mental 

 vigor and his ardent desire for truth and progress. 



Entomology was by no means the only interest of this many- 

 sided man. His powers of observation and his philosophical 

 turn of mind made him prominent in other branches of science, 

 especially ornithology, and in many other human activities. 

 He was a nobleman by nature as well as by birth, a full-blooded 

 man with a rare faculty for the enjoyment of life in all its aspects. 

 He was an enthusiastic sportsman, an ardent hunter, a crack shot, 

 an experienced traveler, a brilliant speaker, and a distinguished 

 personality whom many scientific societies were proud to count a 

 member. 



He was a delightful correspondent, a faithful and unselfish 

 friend and a princely host to those who had a privilege of knowing 



