264 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



reached Tephroclystis implicata, etc., I threw it down in disgust. I 

 fancy that almost every one the wide world over with any knowledge of 

 entomology knows the old genus Eupithecia, or " Pugs " as we call them 

 in England, but who outside a small circle of American pseudo-savants 

 would know what is meant by the new name? What is a name in 

 entomology? It is merely an arbitrary sign by which genera and species 

 are distinguished one from another. To attempt to make entomology an 

 exact science like mathematics seems to me the height of human folly. 

 An injurious species will not be rendered less harmful by transfer from a 

 genus in which it has quietly reposed for many years and become well 

 known, into another genus and under another name. America does not 

 constitute the whole of the world. There are other countries and other 

 entomologists, although they do not stand out so prominently as do the 

 Americans, the latter having been forced into activity by the peculiar 

 natural conditions that here obtain, and which are not in force in Europe. 



There seems to be a class of savants here who, to the honour and 

 glory of themselves, and to the confusion of every one else, are 

 endeavouring to upset everything that has been previously done else- 

 where, as though their little world constituted the whole globe. They 

 seem determined as far as possible to ignore that many fossils, plants, 

 beetles, moths, and flies, etc., are common to both the Old and New 

 Worlds, to say nothing of birds, fishes, mammals, etc., and that many 

 other species only show slight variations in type, far less indeed than 

 the inhabitant of the Eastern States differs from the typical "John Bull," 

 his progenitor. 



If I can only induce entomologists in America to take a world-wide 

 view of matters, and not confine their ideas and minds to their own little 

 collections, circumscribed by four walls, this feeble protest of mine will 

 not be thrown away, and much pain and grief be saved to humble 

 students like myself. 



What a terrible punishment it would be in the hereafter to be 

 doomed to perpetually make out new lists of such " jawcrackers " as 

 appear in the list in question ! 



E. Eirmstone Heath, Cartwright, Manitoba. 



Mailed September 4th, 190 1. 



