76 THE entomologist's record. 



point of view is entirely familiar. In describing some of the wonderful 

 means of defence of the larva of Cerura vinula, De Geer merely speaks 

 of the " caterpillar of the sallow.'' Our sympathies are with Lyonnet, 

 Avho carefully describes the anatomy of " the caterpillar which eats the 

 wood of the willow." These men were naturalists, interested in the 

 infinitely difficult and infinitely numerous problems presented by 

 living nature. We find the same spirit in the early Darwinian 

 Avriters ; it shines forth clearly not only in the bionomic monographs, 

 but also illuminates the systematic papers of Bates, Wallace, and 

 Trimen, and now it has become the common heritage of entomology. 

 Systematic work is as " useful and necessary" as ever, indeed even 

 more so, for it becomes a necessity not only as an end in itself, but 

 as the foundation for endless other inquiries. This, then, is the great 

 gain which British entomology owes to Darwin's influence, received 

 first through the early Darwinian writers, and then through the energy 

 and ability of Raphael Meldola — that we are inspired to become 

 naturalists and observers, rather than collectors, that Ave describe and 

 distinguish species as the means for knowing more about them as living 

 animals, and that endless ne^v lines of observation are opened up to us 

 from the high vantage ground which we occupy as firm believers in 

 the doctrine of evolution and the process of natural selection as its 

 motive cause. 



A Century of Lepidopterology in North America. 



By Professor C. H. FEKNALD, M.A., Ph.D. 

 In the early part of the nineteenth century there were very few 

 persons in the United States or Canada who paid any attention to 

 entomology, nor had there been up to the commencement of the 

 century any one belonging to this country who was doing any serious 

 work on insects. Many collections had been made by travellers from 

 time to time and sent to Europe Avhere they were described by Linne, 

 Fabricius, Drury, Zincken, Hiibner, and others, during the latter half 

 of the eighteenth century. John Abbot came to this country about 

 1790 for the purpose of collecting insects, but later he settled for some 

 years in Georgia Avhere he made very careful studies and drawings of 

 lepidopterous insects, the results of which were published in conjunc- 

 tion with J. E. Smith, in 1797, in the Lepidopterous Insects of Geortjia, 

 in two folio volumes. A few scattered papers on the lepidoptera were 

 published early in the century by Professor W. D, Peck and some 

 others. The Avritings of Thomas Say on insects, extending from 1817 

 to 1839, although valuable descriptive papers, contain very little on 

 the lepidoptera. Major John E. le Conte, in conjunction with M. 

 Boisduval, published a work on the Lepidoptera of North Aiiwrica and 

 their Caterpillars (1829-42). The entomological writings of Dr. T. 

 W. Harris (1823-52) undoubtedly attracted more attention than those 

 of any of his contemporaries. His Bisects Injurious to Veijetation was 

 an epoch-making book and is still a classic Avhich can be found in the 

 library of every economic entomologist in this country. When Ave 

 consider the almost absolute isolation in Avhich Dr. Harris liA'ed and 

 AA'orked, so far as other entomologists Avere concerned, and the very 

 meagre collection of books on entomology accessible to him, we may 

 well marvel at the fulness, accuracy and amount of entomological 



