164 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



pelled to engage in active pursuits, either professional or 

 commercial, which demand a knowledge of the three lan- 

 guages mentioned, and, if after acquiring them, these can 

 also serve them in the scientific recreations of their leisure 

 moments, thus rendering unnecessary the acquisition of a 

 special language for such jDurposes, it appears to the writer 

 that we have gained one very important point, since just so 

 much time and labor may be saved for useful scientific work. 

 Physicists, mathematicians, astronomers, and zoologists in 

 fields other than entomological, have long since abandoned 

 the Latin as a medium of publication. The leading mathe- 

 matical and astronomical journals employ the modern lan- 

 guages exclusively, and, although they appeal to a much 

 more extensive class of readers than do the entomological 

 journals, it has not been found that anytliing has been lost 

 by the change, but on the contrary, as they at present reach 

 a larger number of readers, such a course has tended to 

 more widely diffuse scientific knowledge, and to create a 

 more universal desire for its advancement. 



This subject is, however, a somewhat delicate one, and 

 merits further consideration and argument. 



The binocular microscope, with objectives of from two- 

 thirds to two inches focal length, is inevitably destined to 

 supplant the hand-lens in the future study of entomology, 

 its advantages being perfect steadiness of the object, suffi- 

 cient magnifying power to bring all the organs prominently 

 into view, and the healthful and unconstrained use of both 

 eyes, giving a stereoscopic effect; at the same time both 

 hands remain free for writing or drawing. To one accus- 

 tomed to this mode of studying insects under ten mm. in 

 length, an adherence to the usual method of research by 

 means of the hand-lens, where the eye is unnaturally 

 strained, and the images consequently apt to be distorted 

 and to convey a wrong impression, seems entirely unac- 

 countable. A long list of errors in describing sculpture 

 and formation of various parts of the body, owing to insuf- 



