ON INSECT ANATOMY. 389 



of the moment, it is vain to remark upon tlie tendency engendered 

 by division of labour to similar division, {i.e., narrowing of interest) 

 in the respective objects of our study. 



But in addressing a society of naturalists — whose meetings are 

 professedly held for interchange of thought and work and whose 

 vitality is best shown in the variety of research undertaken by its 

 members — it seems to me more fitting to rely upon the interest 

 we all take in each others work than to insist upon the special 

 importance of the subjects which we investigate. There is a com- 

 munity of interest in the commonwealth of science, as well as in the 

 republic of letters, in which all students are privileged to share and 

 to which all may appeal. One may plant the seed, another may 

 water it, and again others may carefully tend its growth, until in 

 due time and season fruit is matured which will be gathered by all 

 who hold knowledge in honour, with a sense of enjoyment enhanced 

 by variety of choice as* well as flavour. And those will enjoy in 

 highest degree who are themselves labourers in the garden of nature, 

 and who, in contemplating the work accomplished by their 

 associates, find relief from the strain of their own labours, and a 

 genial spur to their scientific zeal when perhaps most needed. 



"What I have to bring before the Society consists of anatomical 

 details of a somewhat technical nature, which I cannot pretend to 

 introduce with any flourish of trumpets, and which I shall not 

 attempt to embellish with glowing descriptions of the marvels of 

 insect life, or by anecdotes of curious habits, which may be found in 

 abundance in all our books. It is rather my aim to direct attention 

 to the less cultivated but more practical fleld of research which 

 here lies open to the naturalist, a field peculiarly his own, full of 

 promise and, though demanding some exercise of skill and patience, 

 worthy of his best energies. And it is my hope that some of our 

 members may be induced to take up a study which will interest 

 them more and more as they advance, and which will yield 

 valuable materials for our evening discussions. 



I have fixed on a particular example of insect anatomy for several 

 reasons. In the first place, I believe that precise knowledge of 



