182 THE entomologist's kecord. 



Thursday, 11 a.m. — Conferment of honorary degrees in the Senate House. 



12 noon. — Rede Lecture by Sir Archibald Geikie, F.E.S., on " Darwin as a 

 Geologist." 



o to 5.30 p.m.— Garden party by Mr. William Erasmus Darwin, Sir George and 

 Lady Darwin, Mr. Francis and Misses Frances Darwin, Mrs. Litchfield, and Miss 

 Darwin, in the Fellows' Garden, Trinity College. 



During the celebration there will be an exhibition of portraits, books, and other 

 objects of interest connected with the great naturalist. 



It is not our intention to speak of the immense influence Darwin's 

 writings have had on entomology, as on every other branch of science, 

 and every phase of human thought ; suffice it to saj^ that the group of 

 animals which we study has provided, more than any other, the 

 material which has been used to demonstrate many of the theories 

 that have been advanced in connection with the phenomena of life as 

 well as the subject of the evolution of species by natural selection. 

 But as we were turning over the pages of one of our entomological 

 magazines, a short paragraph caught the eye. It reads as follows : — 



" CoLEOPTEKA AT DowN. — We three very young collectors have lately taken, in 

 the parish of Down, six miles from Bromley, Kent, the following beetles, which we 

 believe to be rare, viz., Liciiius silphoides, Panaqus 4-pustulatus, and Clyttis 

 myxticus. As this parish is only fifteen tniles from London, we have thought that 

 you might think it worth while to insert this little notice in the ' Intelligencer.' " 

 — Francis, Leonard, and Horace Darwin (Ent. If'k. Intelligencer, vi., p. 98, June 

 25th, 1859). 



It will be seen from this that two of the three brilliant sons of 

 Darwin now officially connected with Cambridge University — Sir 

 George Darwin, Mr. Francis Darwin, and Mr. Horace Darwin — were, 

 in 1859, very young collectors, and collectors in the particular branch 

 of zoology that so fascinated their father in his early days. He, as a 

 lad, was a most ardent coleopterist, and the early training that he 

 obtained as a collector of British coleoptera, no doubt stood him in 

 good stead, when, on the voyage of the Beagle, he was laying up those 

 stores of knowledge that afterwards blossomed into the great book of 

 his life, TIw Orujin of Species by means of Natiiirtl Selection. Continu- 

 ing our researches in the oldest of our entomological magazines, we 

 came to the conclusion that the position of entomologists with regard 

 to Darwin's epoch-making work, at the time of, and for some time after, 

 its publication, was generally one of antagonism. Dr. Bree, a well- 

 known entomologist of the time (not, however, to be confused with the 

 Kev. Wm. Bree), published a book shortly after its appearance, entitled 

 Species not Transiiiutahle nor the Besiilt of Secondary Causes, beiny a 

 Critical Examination, of Mr. Danrins xeork entitled Oriyin and Variation 

 of Species, which, apart from the prejudice exhibited, is a remarkable 

 exposition of his own position. The fact that, in the title of his own 

 book, he misquoted that of Darwin, and evidently got the latter mixed 

 up somehow with that of Wollaston's On the Variation of Species, 

 appears very strange, the opinions of the latter author being very 

 different from those of Darwdn. Dr. Bree's book was reviewed by 

 Stainton {Ent. Wk. Intelliyencer, ix., pp. 78-79), and his opinion of 

 Darwin's work may be at least approximately gauged by the following 

 quotation — 



Dr. Bree's aim appears to have been to follow Mr. Darwin's arguments 

 chapter by chapter, and to meet assumptions by opposing facts. Occasionally, 

 Mr. Darwin's propositions are held up to ridicule ; we believe that this will give 

 great offence to the followers of Mr. Darwin, but is it possible altogether to avoid 

 4oing BO ? 



