18G Journal Xew York Entomological Society. [Vol. xxii 



really of even greater promise than Harris' own pupil, John W. 

 Randall, of seven years before. Thomas Wentworth Higginson was 

 then a beginner. Present also should be Copley Greene, a local col- 

 lector, who had taken the then unusual trip to Paris, taking all his 

 beetles with him, reveling for weeks in the Dejean collection, com- 

 paring and labeling his own, and even exchanging with that prince 

 of amateurs. One easily imagines Leconte, the elder, the Major, still 

 possessing a soldier's bearing. He had begun his visits to Cambridge 

 and Dr. Harris in 1830 and had read before this very society his 

 paper monographing the Histers. He had inveighed eloquently 

 against the carelessness of American describers in not studying suffi- 

 ciently the earlier authorities and thus burdening the synonymy. As 

 luck would have it, the first six species described in that paper proved 

 synonyms. One would like to imagine the debut of young Leconte as 

 a speaker. An inspection of the minutes, however, of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History of that date shows that it was a very 

 ordinary meeting. Neither Leconte was present. The paper was 

 read " by title " and ordered printed. The gem had no setting. 



Before entering upon his detailed descriptions young Leconte 

 wrote: 



" The indolence of our entomological observers is the more de- 

 plorable, as we are few in numlicr, and therefore more is to be ex- 

 pected from each individual. The field of research is still open, and 

 anyone who travels in it. with even ordinary care and attention, will 

 not fail, under the mnnerous stones scattered on its surface, and the 

 weeds which apparently obstruct his path, to discover as fine insects 

 as have ever graced the cabinet of a Hope or a Dejean. I trust that 

 the day is past when our insects must be sent to Europe for determina- 

 tion. Are we to be bound by the mere dictum of some European 

 entomologist, of equal indolence with ourselves, who chooses to 7/(/;»l' 

 the insect which we have discovered? Where should our insects be 

 better known than in the country which gave them birth; but in what 

 civilized land are they less studied? 



" These remarks may appear rather high-flown to one who is not 

 interested in the subject; but I trust I may be pardoned for this out- 

 burst of feeling . . . when I see — what shall I say shiploads? — of 

 our finest insects sent off to Europe, with no authority but a cabinet 

 name, or perhaps not even with that, until some person of more than 



