vxv^-*^ 



lSGlit©rieil. 



The editor is again away from home. This will ac- 

 count for any delays in his replies to correspondents. All 

 mail requiring his attention will be promptly forw^arded if 



sent to the usual address. 



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 * 



The editor knows an entomologist whose knowledge 

 of the insects of his own region is excellent, but who, when- 

 ever he writes for publication, invariably selects the spe- 

 cies of Africa or some other equally distant and unknown 

 region for his vSubject. He has never seen these species ex- 

 cept in collections ; but he seems to have the feeling that 

 onh^ objects brought from afar are worthy of being called 

 to the attention ol his readers. Unfortunately he is not 

 alone in such feelings. Plant students are far too prone to 

 write of things upon which, at best, they can bring to bear 

 only second-hand information. When you start to write, 

 select the subject with which 3'ou are most familiar, and 

 do not think that because a plant is common it is well 

 known. Usualh' it is the other way about. When 3-our 

 article is finished, test it by examining it for ideas derived 

 from books. If there are many of these, you would do 

 well to burn the article and tr}" again. What the public 

 asks of you is either fresh information, old facts in a new 

 light, or both. The da^' of mere lists and categorical arti- 

 cles has passed, but the beginner is still offering such mat- 

 ter to publishers. If you can only record the number of 

 species found on one of your tramps or the species of some 

 genus in your vicinity, don't write. Nobody cares tor 

 that. But all have a lively interest in an\'thing new you 

 may have discovered while observing such species. Unde- 

 scribed species are becoming extremely rare in inhabited 

 regions, but undescribed habits of plants and unrecorded 

 facts about them are as abundant as the plants them- 

 selves. "Do you remember," asks a correspondent, "how 



