1901 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 13 



of insect life both in its destructive and beneficial aspects. He congratulated the members on 

 their extensive collections of insects and their library, which was the best of its kind in this 

 country, and would be found most useful by young men of scientific tastes. 



The Rev. Dr. Fyles, of South Quebec, read his presidential address and illustrated it with 

 a number of beautifully executed colored diagrams, the work of his own hand. His charming 

 manner and choice diction added to the interest of the subject, and held the unflagging attention 

 which was bestowed by the audience. 



¥ 



THE IMPORTANCE OF ENTOMOLOGICAL STUDIES TO THE COMMUNITY AT 



LARGE. 



By the Rev. Thomas W. Fyles, D.C.L., F.L.S. 



The poet Crabbe gives us a glimpse of an entomologist of his day. He says, — 



" There is my friend the Weaver : strong desires 



Reign in bis breast ; 'tis beauty he admires : 



See ! to the shady grove he takes his way, 



And feels in hope the raptures of the day — 



Eager he looks : and soon, to glad his eyes, 



From the sweet bower, by nature form'd arise 



Bright troops of virgin moths and fresh-born butterrtiea ; 



'* Above the sovereign oak, a sovereign skims. 



The purple Emp'ror, strong in wing and limbs : 



There fair Camilla takes her flight serene, 



Adonis blue, and Paphia silver-queen ; 



With every filmy fly from mead or bower, 



And hungry Sphinx who threads the honey'd fl )wer." 



Crabbe wrote in no unkindly spirit, for he was himself a naturalist ; but, by the general 

 public of his time the entomologist was regarded as one who rode a useless hobby, as one who 

 wasted his time in trivialities. 



Yet, doubtless, it was bettei" that the weaver should spend his leisure hours in the woods 

 and fields, improving his health by exercise and fresh air, and having a definite purpose in 

 view, than that he should idle them away in the frouzy haunts of men of his class. We may 

 well believe that he would return to his usual avocations with greater courage, because of the 

 pleasure and refreshment that his outing, amid — what Hood calls, — 



" The boundless prodigality of nature, 

 The balm, the bliss, the beauty and the bloom," 



had given him. 



For some years before Crabbe's death, the friendly Stephens, to benefit just such entomo- 

 logists as Crabbe had portrayed, opened his doors on every Wednesday evening, and received 

 both acquaintances and strangers alike — placing his books and his fine collections at their 

 service, identifying specimens for them, and giving them scientific information. 



Stephens died in 1852 : but the Wednesday evening " at homes " were continued by Stain- 

 ton, editor of " The Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer," at his residence at Lewisham. 



The services rendered to the cause of English entomology by Stephens, Stainton, Newman,* 

 Douglas,t and others of their time, ought never to be forgotten. They raised entomology in 

 public estimation ; they changed many a mere collector into a useful man of science ; and they 

 prepared the public mind to welcome the publications of the entomological authors who came 

 after them. 



I think Stainton's "Manual of Butterflies and Moths " (in two volumes) was the most com 

 plete work of the kind — the best adapted to its purpose — that had then appeared. It was 



•Editor of the "Zoologist" and author of the " Insect Hunters," etc. 

 tAuthor of "The World of Insects," etc. 



