€2 THE entomologist's record. 



doing tlie mischief, and how to get rid of it. At such times as harvest 

 and haymaking, lectures could be given to the men in the barn or hay- 

 field. These suggestions of Mr. Mosley appear to me valuable, but they 

 refjuire to be carried out with caution. Unless these missionaries are 

 well qualified for their work, they will do more harm than good, and I 

 would rather trust to the free circulation among the farmers of such 

 invaluable works on the subject as Miss Ormerod's Text Booh of Agri- 

 cnUural Entomology. The difiiculty, however, is to convince farmers of 

 the importance of the study of insect attacks, and I am afraid very 

 many, even if they were presented Avith the book, would not open its 

 pages. Could not the question of County Council lectures be taken up 

 by Government, and no person permitted to be employed by any Council 

 until his knowledge had been tested, and the Government ought to 

 appoint some person well qualified to be the examiner. Teachers of 

 botany have to qualify themselves ; why not teachers of entomology ? 

 In Australia, the State entomologist (Mr. French) writes that the 

 authorities are most liberal to him ; his reports are printed by the 

 Government, and sent out free to farmers and gi'owers. The Agent 

 General has ordered from Mosley a collection of injurious insects, value 

 £86, for Mr. French's private use, and they have placed as much of the 

 Exhibition Buildings at Melbourne, covering 40 acres, as he may require 

 for forming an Economic Museum, at his disposal. In America, the 

 AgTicultural Department have power to compile and print entomologi- 

 cal books, even simple instructions in collecting and preserving insects, 

 at Government expense. The attention at present paid to the study of 

 Natural History at juddic and private schools must greatly facilitate its 

 progress in the future. In my youth it was quite an exception where 

 the scholars were encouraged to pursue it, and the making of a collec- 

 tion of insects, and studying their habits was hardly known. The 

 Friends' School at York, and the one at Epping, where I went to 

 school, were almost the only schools in the country, I believe, where 

 Natural History was taught, whilst now all the larger schools possess 

 a museum of their ovn\, and many of them also. Natural History 

 Societies, and there is scarcely one, I should think, in the country 

 where some of the scholars do not collect. By the last Government 

 code, the managers of an elementary school can dispense with grammar 

 as a class subject, and substitute other subjects, one of which is Natural 

 History. Advantage is to some extent being taken of this code, and the 

 study of natural science is slowly but surely finding its way into our 

 system of elementary education. We are educating the children more 

 and more by things, and less and less by books. We are teaching them 

 to find — 



" Tongues in trees, 



Books in the running brooks, 



Sermons in stones, 



And good in every thing." 



At present, however, certain hindrances exist in the way of the more 

 rapid progress of this knowledge. For instance, most teachers are 

 very familiar with gTammar, and to them it is an easy subject to take 

 for a class ; while, on the other hand, comparatively few are interested, 

 or think themselves sufiiciently advanced to take such subjects as 

 entomology. Still, we are progressing, and this difficulty will 

 gi-adually^disappear, and, before long, there is no doubt. School Boards 



