JOURNAL 



OF THE 



Jlf\a JBoph €lnkinoIogirflI ^oriFl^g. 



Vol. XXIII. 



JUNE, 1915. 



No. 2. 



A FEW MEMORIES. 



By Annie Trumbull Slosson, 



New York. 



It seems to me such a little while since I was a novice in ento- 

 mology, just a very ignorant beginner, that it was almost a shock 

 when somebody suggested the other day that some of my recollections 

 of our old entomologists might interest people. For I was no longer 

 young when I took up the study of insects. I had always, from 

 childhood, been fond of nature and for years devoted myself to bot- 

 any, being so fortunate as to make some rather interesting discoveries 

 and being a correspondent of Prof. x\sa Gray and other old-time 

 plant students. But it was not until the early spring of 1886 that I 

 turned my attention to the study of insects. I little knew what I was 

 doing ! I meant to secure a superficial, cursory acquaintance with 

 the more common " bugs,'' particularly those which infested my 

 plants and flowers. I picked up an elementary work — by Prof. 

 Packard, I think — intended to start school children in the study of 

 entomology and began looking it over. There were a few illustra- 

 tions of familiar insects. It was then early in March and a back- 

 ward season. So where could I find specimens to compare with my 

 pictures? I sat near an open wood fire one day in my old Connec- 

 ticut home reading the little book and as I reached for a stick of 

 hickory to brighten the fire I saw something moving on the surface 

 of the wood. It was a " bug " and alive, my very first entomological 



85 



