ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 



PHILADELPHIA, PA., JULY, 1922. 



On Firing Shot. 



One of the most interesting addresses, presidential or other- 

 wise, which we have read for a long while is that entitled The 

 Factor of Safety in Research, by the President of the Michigan 

 Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, published in Science 

 lor May 12, 1922. Those who enjoyed it, as we did, will 

 recall that a thesis maintained was : 



The training- of young investigators on a diet of insignificant prob- 

 lems is not inevitably fatal and may even be beneficial. 



[Again:! The principle of this method is one which has been widely 

 adopted in other affairs of life and has been found good. Firing a 

 whole cartridge full of shot in order that one ball may bring down 

 the game is a recognized principle of the huntsman. Is the remaining 

 shot wasted ? It is. Is the system which uses cartridges of shot, most 

 of which is wasted, an uneconomical one? Any hunter will tell you 

 it is not. The bullets of a machine gun are mostly wasted, but the 

 system as a whole insures hitting the mark. 



But if we have been trained on this method and we do not 

 presume to suggest a better that is no reason why we should 

 be content with thereafter wasting many shot in our marks- 

 manship. There are those who take up one little problem after 

 another, as such chance their way, without apparently looking 

 into the future to form an opinion whether such chance re- 

 search will ever lead to the solution of some larger question 

 of pure or applied knowledge. It is surely better for each one 

 to consider the possibility of his mastering some broader 

 problem and of directing his continued efforts thereto through 

 the years which may be his for research. 



On the Types of Gnamptonychia ventralis, B. & L., a Correction 



(Lepid., Arctiidae). 



In the original description of Gnamptonychia ventralts, B. & !_,., IS^i, 

 Entomological News, xxxii, 297, instead of "two paratypcs 9," read 



"two paralypes $ ." 



WM. BARNES and F. H. BENJAMIN. 



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