34 THE entomologist's record. 



we call to mind only a few of her leading explorers in this field, such as 

 Packard, Scndder, Dyar, Kellogg, Chambers, Comstock, Sec. There 

 can be little doubt that this lead will be still further increased as 

 America enlarges her resources of all sorts at a rate that it is hopeless 

 for European states to emulate. Though England, France and Eussia 

 are falling comparatively behind, they have no reason to be ashamed 

 of the position they yet hold, though in England we can hardly hope 

 to sustain the prestige given us by Darwin and Wallace. 



A perfunctory glance at some actual researches is all that space 

 permits, and I may select those in lepidoptera as best known to me. 

 We may place in the front rank those that are of a definite experimental 

 character, such as have been made by Merrifield, Poulton, Bateson and 

 others in England, where these investigations have been more closely 

 followed than elsewhere, though the names of Weismann and Standfuss 

 remind us that Germany and Switzerland, if not in front, are never 

 far behind. Experimental work such as these investigators have 

 followed, is, I think characteristic not only of the century, but quite of 

 its later decades. Those of Merrifield in pedigree moth-breeding on 

 Selenia tetralmiaria, have very much extended our knowledge as to the 

 kind of information that can be gained in this way, and of how to 

 acquire it, and have afforded much material of value on questions of 

 heredity and variation. His experiments in the effects of temperature 

 on development have opened large fields for further experiment, and 

 have shown us that temperature may have various effects according to 

 the different constitution of different species, and may afford strong 

 evidence as to whether a species has been derived from an ancestry of 

 more northern or more southern habitat than it now occupies, whilst 

 the more extreme temperatures produce effects that result from profound 

 disturbance of physiological processes, from which we already gather 

 something, and may hope to gather more as to the nature of these 

 processes, in the development of form and colour in lepidoptera. 

 Merrifield's experiments on the effects of surroundings on the colour of 

 exposed pupte, and those of Poulton on these, and on larvte on 

 variously coloured resting-places, have resulted in an immense increase 

 in our knowledge in these directions, many of the facts being really 

 marvellous, although these investigators have made us so familiar 

 with them that we take them noAV as almost commonplace. The 

 experiments of Bateson and Standfuss in crossing of more or less 

 definitely fixed varieties, and of closely allied species, have given some 

 curious results, the precise teaching of which is not yet perhaps fully 

 elucidated. Many of these experiments require very persistent and 

 constant attention, and to produce the best results should be continued 

 for a considerable number of years with unchanging resolution. It is 

 therefore remarkable that so much should have been done by 

 individual effort. What is really necessary for pushing the researches 

 more fully and completely is a biological station founded on some 

 permanent basis. In these days when " saintly millionaires " are to be 

 had for the asking, may we not hope to have several such stations 

 instituted before the new century is very old. The results to be looked 

 for are not only of interest to entomologists, but bear most directly on 

 all those questions of a physiological and biological character, such as 

 the direct and indirect effect of environment, individually and racially, 

 the factors that go to produce or modify variation and heredity and 



