THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 371 



comprised about fifty-five papers, but of these not more than ten 

 were of international or semi-international interest. 



Mr. Charles Oberthur in his paper advocated the adoption of a 

 rule that no description should be accepted as valid unless accom- 

 panied by a good figure. Such an idea could not, of course, be 

 entertained, for, apart from the difficulty of determining what is a 

 good figure, it would, in the absence of highly-endowed journals or 

 expensive government publications (which would only be open to 

 official entomologists), throw the work of describing new species into 

 the hands of wealthy entomologists who could afïord to furnish the 

 illustrations. 



The suggestion of Mr., Ernest Olivier, that the Latin language 

 should be used in all entomological descriptions is equally impractic- 

 able; and, even if it could be adopted, would certainly not mend 

 matters, judging from the extremely meagre and inadequate Latin 

 descriptions of the past. 



The centralization of diagnostic descriptions, advocated by 

 Mr. E. E. Green, while a consummation devoutly to be wished^ 

 seems impossible of attainment, but certainly a great improvement 

 over the present chaotic condition could be made by a little co- 

 operation between the entomologists of each country. 



Of the other papers of international import, the only ones 

 which led to any action were those by Mr. A. G. L. Rogers and 

 Messrs. Wheeler and Bethune-Baker, the latter being accompanied 

 by a communication on nomenclature from the Entomological 

 Society of London, which led to important action being taken, as 

 detailed by Dr. Hewitt. 



There is another point which certainly merits consideration,, 

 and that is the serious disproportion among the representatives of 

 the difïerent nations, the English members of the congress equalHng, 

 if not outnumbering, the representatives of all the other countries 

 combined. This was referred to by one of the German entomologists 

 to whom I spoke while waiting on the Tring platform for the Lon- 

 don train, who pointed to the whole page of names of English repre- 

 sentatives, and said there were too many. 



Disproportionate representarion is, of course, inevitable, as 

 there will always be a fuller representation of the entomologists of 

 the country in which the congress is held, but if it should ever be 

 desired to settle any disputed point by majority vote, some scheme 

 of proportional voting power would probably have to be adopted. 



If the congress could be brought to seriously consider and de- 

 cide such questions as to whether or not the law of priority should be 

 rigidly enforced in all cases, irrespective of consequences, whether 

 the Tentamen of Hubner should or should not be recognized, and 

 similar troublesome questions, it would do more to justify its exist- 

 ence than it has yet done. 



