Entomological Society, 77 



peatedly alluded to by my predecessors ; nevertheless, I cannot avoid 

 reverting to the fact, that one of its immediate, and, as it appears to 

 me, most momentous objects, is the publication of the labours of its 

 members ; and I am, therefore, happy to announce that the Fourth 

 Part of our Transactions is now upon the table ready for distribution, 

 and, I feel assured, that several of the papers will reflect great credit 

 upon the writers, from their practical utility, and tend considerably 

 to advance the views contemplated by the Society. 



" Amongst the latter, the Prize Essays established by the Society 

 may be referred to for their practical importance to the Agriculturist ; 

 the Essay proposed for the past year, was an investigation into the 

 habits, &c. of the " Nigger," or black caterpillar of the Turnip-Fly 

 (Athalia Centifolicc), towards the prosecution of which the Agricul- 

 tural Society of Saffron Walden joined us, by proposing an addi- 

 tional Five Guineas for the successful Essayist. 



" Surrounded as I am by individuals fully competent to judge of 

 the vast and almost boundless extent of the subjects comprehended 

 within the scope of the Society's investigation, it may not be thought 

 useless to suggest to them the adoption of the most simple methods 

 of carrying their inquiries forward. Most of you, doubtless, have ex- 

 perienced, at one time or other, the vexatious loss of time consequent 

 upon being compelled to wade through voluminous works for the 

 purpose of ascertaining whether any account or description of the 

 insect, then under your investigation, was therein contained, and 

 after the most laborious research have been frequently disappointed 

 in your endeavours to extract the wished-for information, arising 

 from the diffused and miscellaneous character of such publications ; 

 and, as I trust that our Transactions will eventually become volu- 

 minous, would it not be advisable for the working members of the 

 Society to confine their labours, as far as practicable, to groups, in 

 preference to the mere description of new and isolated species ? 

 thereby gradually laying the foundation of a valuable series of Es- 

 says, by preparing a succession of monographs of such groups of in- 

 sects as are but little known, and of which the descriptions, so far as 

 they have appeared, lie scattered over numerous bulky volumes. I 

 would, however, except from this rule all notices or descriptions of 

 new species, regarding which any important fact of ceconomy, phy- 

 siology, structure, &c, may present itself; but in this case, as well 

 as in the previous instances of monographs, I would recommend that 

 an occasional abstract of the species described in the preceding vo- 

 lumes of our Transactions should be prepared in an arranged form 

 as an index to their contents, and as a guide to the student, and that 



