THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 265 



The locality given by Desvoidy, " Pennsylvania," is not of great 

 significance, as it was not uncommon for the older entomologists to assign 

 this locality to material received from Philadelphia, even if not collected 

 near there. It is Osten Sacken, I think, who in one place instances a 

 species published with the locality Philadelphia, which has not since been 

 taken except in Texas. 



Considering the facts brought out in this discussion, it is clear that 

 nobody knows, or can know, what consobrifius is. Whether a sufficient 

 probability has been adduced to justify the use of the name, is a question 

 upon which entomologists may differ ; as before, I think the name should 

 not be used. A much larger problem is involved here than the name of a 

 single species. The use of old names which are of more or less doubtful 

 application has been overdone in the Diptera in recent years, in my 

 opinion. The idea that we must " do something " with all the old names 

 seems to me unscientific. Rather we should try to follow the rule of not 

 using a name unless we know that it stands for something. The difficulty 

 of harmonizing the practice of entomologists arises from the fact that there 

 is no definite criterion in most cases, and the decision rests on the '•' ento- 

 mological sense " of the person making it ; what is convincing to one will 

 not be to another. 



I have not the slightest interest in saving the name ifiornalus from 

 synonymy, except from the fact that it is the only name which is 

 positively known to apply to the species under consideration. I doubt 

 if the species could be recognized from the description ; but in this 

 case we have the type in the U. S. National Museum, examined by Mr. 

 Coquillett and found to be this species. 



I have in my previous article explained why impatiens z.nd phiguis 

 cannot be used for this species. Mr. Coquillett seems to argue that 

 either name is available unless somebody can disprove it ; my position is 

 that affirmative proof is necessary. 



Miss Alice L. Embleton, of Newnnam College, Cambridge, Eng- 

 land, has been awarded the Royal Society's Mackinnon Studentship in 

 Biology, the object of which is to encourage scientific research in any 

 department in this great field of natural science. She has decided 

 to confine her investigations to the parasites of destructive insects, 

 in the hope that she may be rewarded with discoveries of great 

 economic importance by finding natural enemies of greater efficiency 

 than any artificial insecticides. It is much to be hoped that she 

 may prove a worthy successor of the late Miss Eleanor Ormerod. 



