492 A CENTURY OF PROGRESS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES 



may not appear overwhelming to the beginning amateur. This is particularly 

 important in North America where a continent-wide fauna cannot be readily 

 synopsized in a single work. Although obscure groups should be mentioned in 

 their proper place in such manuals, major emphasis should be placed on the 

 more conspicuous insects. A study of these becomes, in effect, an elementary 

 classroom from which amateurs can graduate to the study of groups requiring 

 more work. Amateurs, if they annotate their specimens fully, can at least accumu- 

 late data for the scientist to interpret. In many regions, for example, butterfly 

 studies have advanced to a stage which involves the methods of a geneticist. But 

 one of the main purposes of butterfly collecting can be to hold the interest of the 

 beginner until he can perceive the deeper values of his pursuit, when he can 

 apply his zeal to some lesser known section of the insect world. 



The common complaint of specialists is that our knowledge is too incomplete 

 or too tentative to produce synoptic works, but the reason for its incompleteness 

 is the very lack of the workers whom the guidebooks would stimulate ! The user 

 of such manuals soon comes to appreciate the author's problems. Perhaps the 

 book's deficiencies may stimulate the reader to become part of a team that will 

 make possible more adequate work in the future. Out of every hundred ama- 

 teurs, one or more may be impelled to take up some neglected phase of insect study 

 and, with the guidance of advanced workers, pursue this study at its highest level. 



The reason I have emphasized the role of the amateur is because it is the 

 amateur who chiefly pioneered our science and because he holds the key to its 

 future development. Even today the professional scientists who are motivated 

 by the enthusiasm of the amateur make the greatest contributions to science. 

 They are not mere nine-to-five-o'clock scholars; their studies are one of their 

 main interests in life. As much as possible of their spare time, vacations, years 

 of retirement, and financial resources is given to their work. 



Such individuals are rare in any society because they work for things above 

 and beyond their basic material needs. Unfortunately, their number does not 

 seem to increase in proportion to the expanding opportunities afforded by our 

 modern way of life. Indeed, highly advertised, commonplace, nonconstructive 

 spare-time activities — or inactivities, like television — are capturing the time and 

 mind of youth to a degree that may make the future crop of amateur scientists 

 very scanty. If entomological studies are to rival these diversions, they must be 

 made more available and more attractive. 



Improvements in Systematic Method 



Once a worker restricts his research to a field that he can actually handle, 

 he can take the time to improve his methods, and his contributions will become 

 more valuable and rewarding. Many will argue that specialization of this sort 

 is undesirable, that a worker is apt to become narrow. I disagree; the more con- 

 centrated the field of study, the sooner the worker ceases to be a mere taxonomist. 

 With concentration on a specialty, knowledge of what has been learned in related 

 fields of science becomes more essential. The worker must know more and more 

 about such subjects as climate, phytogeography, geology, paleontology and 

 anatomy in order to evaluate the ideas that develop in the course of a penetrat- 

 ing investigation. Acquaintance with the conclusions of fellow workers con- 



