1902 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 119 



and wishing to detain him, I said, call that a grasshopper ? ' Yes. What do you call it ? ' 

 Conocephalus ensiger. There now, said the girl, you go home and see if there is anything like 

 that about your place. Oh no, he replied. If there was, I would sell out and leave ! 



Being on a visit one evening to a place where some attention had been given to collecting, 

 a Polyphemus cocoon was placed on the table to interest the company. A young man eyed it 

 suspiciously, reached out towards it timidly, and as his fingers were coming in contact with it, 

 I called, hah ! which caused him to draw back suddenly. This raised a laugh at his expense, and 

 he then prepared for an exhibition of boldness ; when I remarked, " The man does not know 

 the risk he is running." Turning to me in all seriousness he enquired : ' What is it anyway ? ' 

 Confident in the ignorance of the company in regard to names, I said, ' Why it is a Boletotherus 

 coruutus.^ "Oh, bejove. I won't have anything to do with it then." And he didn't. 



The accusation that entomologists shorten the lives of a few insects in the pursuit of their 

 science is quite true. But this profession of sympathy for insects is usually made on behalf 

 of some beautiful and seemingly harmless butterfly, overlooking the fact that the handsome 

 creature may produce an offensive looking and destructive grub. I ha/e yet to hear the first 

 expression of regret for the death of a potato beetle, but I have heard a lady taking credit to 

 herself for stepping on every one she saw on the pavement. And yet the lives of each are 

 equally valuable to the owners thereof. Upon one occasion I secured a prize in a place of pub- 

 lic resort, and was taken severely to task by an elderly lady, for my cruelty in depriving of life 

 such a beautiful and harmless creature. I defended myself by asking a question : Suppose you 

 saw a caterpillar crawling on your dress, what would you do with it? " Oh, the nasty thing. 

 I would knock it off and put my foot on it. " Li so doing you would be taking the life of just 

 such a beautiful creature as I did, only in a different form. That did not change her opinion 

 of me. Thus, feelings are allowed to control reason and judgment. A poet has asked : 

 What's a butterfly 1 " And answered : " At its best, 'tis but a caterpillar drest." 



It is no unusual thing to hear individuals when looking at a case of butterflies, go into 

 raptures over their beauty, and extol the marvellous works of the Creator ; but when confron- 

 ted by one of beetles, they will express their horror and disgust at what they regard as most 

 objectionable creatures ; and yet they were originated by the same inventor, and are products 

 of the same workshop, and the one exhibits as much wisdom and beneficence in their construc- 

 tion, and as perfect an adaptation to their requirements in nature as the other. And our duty is 

 to endeavour to discover and disclose wherein that lies, so that we may be able in some measure 

 to give an answer to that oft repeated question : " What were iusects made for anyway 1 " 



When Topsy was asked " Who made her," she said she wasn't made, she grew ; and in any 

 correct use of language Topsy was right. Its a long while since any living thing was made in 

 this world, and yet there was a time when no living creatures existed on this globe. There- 

 fore, they must have been originated at some time; and in some way. And the accumulated 

 evidence stiongly vindicates the belief that they were originated by design, for a purpose. 

 And ever since, those who have survived the fluctuations of time, have kept on propagating 

 their kind in accordance with the laws of their being with which they were originally endowed. 

 Moulded and modified in many ways by external conditions and altered circumstances, the bet- 

 ter to fit them for performing their part in assisting to maintain the balance of nature. Man 

 being, preeminently the disturber of harmony in this world. 



As to the " Pins " which are so much in evidence in a collection of insects, they are a 

 necessity for the handling of specimens without injury when under examination, as well as to 

 carry labels and fix them firmly in place for future observation and study. Many observant 

 persons when looking at a collection of insects, will express great surprise at the number of 

 kinds therein displayed that they have never seen before, and wonder that it should be so. 

 But it is just what might be expected, as a great many insects cannot be distinguished from 



