474 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



able letter, at p. 190 of this Magazine, 3 on the subject of 

 publishing transactions ; the object of the second is — — ; we 

 will give it entire. 



" It was not till some time after the foregoing introduction was 

 written, that the ninth number of the Entomological Magazine came 

 into our hands. We trust our readers will believe, from their general 

 tenor, that no unkindly spirit dictated one line of the preceding 

 pages; and we preface our further observations, unwillingly extorted 

 by the work just alluded to, by the declaration, that no such feelings 

 actuate us even now. We do feel, however, that we should be liable 

 to the imputation of an abandonment of our duty b , if we were to 

 suffer some remarks and unfounded assertions, contained in the 

 number of the Entomological Magazine for October, 1834, to pass 

 unnoticed. 



" We shall make no comment on the sweeping observation, at 

 page 332, that all our entomologists, with only four exceptions, are 

 fools; but content ourselves with thanking the Editors, in the name 

 of the rest, for the compliment. c The assertion, however, in the 

 next paragraph, that the Society is going down, requires severer 

 animadversion. This, it seems, is made on the circumstance, that 

 the meeting in September was attended by only twelve members ; 

 and it is repeated at page 434, in the following paragraph : — ' The 

 attendance of members at these sittings has greatly decreased ; at 

 the July sitting about twenty members were present ; at the August 

 sitting about fifteen ; at the September sitting about twelve.' Now, 

 whatever the Editors of this Journal may please to insinuate, these 

 attendances, considering the time of year, cannot be called bad ; and 

 as to their having greatly decreased since the opening, it would have 

 been very extraordinary if they had not, when a large proportion of 

 the members had left London, as always happens in the summer 

 months. But look at the meetings of other societies at the same 

 period, — the Zoological, for instance ; the number of members of 

 that body who attended the scientific meetings in September, did 

 not amount, on either occasion, to twelve d , although the portion of 

 members in the two Societies is nearly twenty-five to one. Is the 

 Zoological Society also * going down ? ' 



a The Entomological Magazine being the " elsewhere " alluded to. 



b The " duty " of a society to attack a detached paper, published in a private 

 undertaking. 



c The passage is this : — " Ambulator, Hanson, Bird, and one other, are the 

 only entomologists to whom I feel bound by any ties of kindred feeling, affection, 

 or gratitude.'" 



* Nor, we believe, does it in what is called the season. 



