1897-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 8l 



editorial above quoted, to give a false idea of the contents of the 

 Government publication on Entomology under review, and to 

 create a prejudice against, and a contempt for, such publications 

 among those who will not see them in the original. It the reader 

 will refer to the list of Entomological Literature given in this 

 number of the NEWS, he will rind (No. 37) a summary of the 

 contents of this bulletin over which the Sun makes merry. He 

 will observe that the last item in that summary is " Notes from 

 Correspondence." These Notes occupy three-and-a-half pages 

 and are printed in smaller type than the rest of the bulletin. It 

 is expressly stated in the preface to the bulletin that these Notes 

 " may seem more or less insignificant themselves, are read with 

 interest and profit by very many persons of different occupations, 

 and it has frequently happened that the first record of a fact of 

 much value has been made in this way." Yet it is from these 

 "Notes" that all the Sun's quotations are taken, with the excep- 

 tion of the description of Coccophagus fletcherii and the reference 

 to Myzus. Anyone reading the Sun's editorial would certainly 

 form the opinion that the Sun' s quotations represented the chief 

 contents of the Bulletin. 



Again, the Sun s reference to " all entomologists and farmers ' : 

 would lead one to suppose that this bulletin was chiefly intended 

 for the use of these two classes. Yet the preface to the bulletin 

 expressly declares that it is one of a series for the publication of 

 information of great value to economic and systematic entomolo- 

 gists and of very considerable, general interest, as well as of 

 much practical importance, which is constantly accumulating in 

 the Division. The Sun, does not notice this plain statement of 

 the purpose of the bulletin, nor inform its readers that separate 

 farmers' bulletin are issued, distinctly marked as such (see No. 

 38 in the Ent. Literature in this NEWS). The Sun does not 

 raise the question whether a portion of the national funds should 

 or should not be devoted to entomological research and publica- 

 tion. It conveniently ignores the valuable papers which make 

 up 75 of the 87 pages of the object of its attack, ignores those 

 recent bulletins of the Division of Entomology on Household 

 Insects and on Insects affecting Domestic Animals, holds up to 

 ridicule the word "porrected," which we believe is infrequently 

 used even by entomologists, and yet "depones" something of 

 an operatic troupe, and by a display of cheap wit seeks to create 

 an ignorant prejudice which may destroy one of the most useful 

 scientific bureaus of the Government. Unfortunately, the SUM'S 

 attack will be read more widely than the defenses which may In- 

 made against it. 



The Suns editorial is unfair and misleading. That it is so will 

 not greatly surprise even those whose acquaintance with that 

 unhappily named jz^zwpaper is but slight. 



