ENTOMOLOGY HOWARD 367 



presupposes similar methods of development and similar behavior 

 among the related forms, and in addition it affords evidence as to 

 lines of descent and the general trend of evolution. 



In spite of the hundreds of thousands of species of insects that 

 have been named and described, a greatly larger number remain 

 unnamed, while the stability of the names already adopted and 

 of many of the classificatory details and systems has by no means 

 become fixed, and there is a sad lack of comprehensive catalogues 

 of groups — a t3^j>c of publication of the greatest use to all ento- 

 mologists. There is, therefore, a crying need for many more capa- 

 ble taxonomists. 



Further than this, there is also a crying need for bigger and 

 broader taxonomists — for the men now at work to become bigger 

 and broader, and for the men entering the field to consider a host 

 of things unconsidered in the old taxonomy. The average taxono- 

 mist of to-day is lagging behind in the advance of science. New 

 species continue to pour in at such a rate that his time is constantly 

 occupied with descriptive work. He is seldom able to apply him- 

 self to an extended revision of a given group, and if he does at- 

 tempt such a revision he fails to consider even the small amount 

 of work that has been done in internal anatomy, embryology, 

 physiology, and paleo-entomology. His system can not be abso- 

 lutely sound, because he is not able to go deep enough. We need 

 a sounder and better based classification all through the group 

 " Insecta," and this is one of our prime needs to-day. The basic 

 value of a stable nomenclature to all workers in all phases of 

 entomological effort, applied or not, needs no argument here; it 

 is obvious to all of us who are engaged in economic work; it is 

 obvious to those who have done work in embryology, morphology, 

 genetics, or any other branch of biology in which insect material 

 is being used. 



Taxonomy with the class " Insecta " is complicated beyond that 

 of most other groups of animals by the existence of complete meta- 

 morphoses and the radical difference in the lives of the larvae and 

 of the adults; a fact which brings to bear on each stage many 

 evolutionary factors entirely different from those acting on the 

 other. This demands the consideration in taxonomy of what we 

 used to call " life history work," and it is in this life history 

 information and in exact knowledge of early stages that there are 

 very great gaps. Fortunately, the work on the life history of any 

 one species or another is fascinating, and always attracts w^orkers. 

 The number of such investigators is increasing rapidly, and gaps 

 are beinir filled. 



