ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



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PHILADELPHIA, PA., DECEMBER, 1910. 



We have lately received a letter from a distinguished ento- 

 mologist who asks our help in getting his specimens determ- 

 ined. This is only one of a number of such letters we have 

 received from various workers and collectors. He says, "I 

 have been trying to find some kind person who will undertake 

 to determine some Hymenoptera and another who would do the 

 same in Diptera, but so far without success." He had applied 

 to some museums and individuals without result and says, "So 

 I am turning to you almost as my last hope." These condi- 

 tions seem rather strange in view of the fact that the number 

 of persons engaged in systematic work has greatly increased. 

 The men at the various museums and experiment stations are 

 all more or less systematists in part. We know naming things 

 is not the easy task some persons think, but in the good old 

 days it was not so difficult to get specimens named as there 

 was always some hard working specialist and enthusiast who 

 gladly did the work. There certainly seems to be something 

 wrong in this respect at the present time. The plea of over- 

 work seems like an excuse as the men in former times that 

 did such work were not professional entomologists that worked 

 from 9 to 4.30, but men engaged in other pursuits that worked 

 at entomology after a hard day in earning their daily bread. 



SAY WASP NESTS SET BARNS ON FIRE. Hollidaysburg, Pa., Oct. 31. 

 Last week two of the largest barns in Blair County, owned by William 

 McKillup and A. E. Helsel, worth $10,000, were burned to the ground. 

 Investigators, after a thorough inquiry, put forth the theory that the 

 barns were set on fire by wasps' nests, ignited by spontaneous combus- 

 tion, produced by the chemical action caused by the wax coming in 

 contact with the paper-like susbstance of which the nests are composed. 

 Neii's paper. 



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