SOCIETIES. 61 



theories, make deductions, and specnlato with some remote possiliiHty 

 of certainty on the dim vistas of the past which rise up spectral-Hke 

 to haunt and yet to fascinate the encpiiring mind. 



I would not have it supjjosed for a single moment that I tliink the 

 work of the systematist is finislied; on the contrary, a vast amount of 

 systematic work yet remains to be accomplislied. It lias been calculated 

 that about 2,()U(),"00U insects exist, of wliicli only some 200,()()(l have as 

 3'et been described, so that there is still ])li'nty of room for the collector 

 and for the species-namer. We cannot sa}^ however, that the student 

 of insects allows the collector of insects now-a-daj's to have it all his 

 own way quite so much as was the case some forty years ago. Writing 

 in 1856, Sir John Lubbock says : — " I find that in the last four volumes 

 of the 'Transactions of the Entomological Societi/ of London, 818 pages are 

 devoted solely to description of species and genera, while all the other 

 departments of the science occupy only 244, of which 208 treat of the 

 habits of insects, and there is not a single paper on physiology or 

 internal anatomy." If the last four volumes of the Transactions of the 

 same Society contain but few articles on the physiology or anatomy of 

 insects, it must at the same time be admitted that a comparatively 

 small amount of sj^ace is given to the descriptions of new genera and 

 species, whilst a comparatively large amount is devoted to experimental 

 entomology and philosophical deductions therefrom. In fact, students 

 now are breaking up rapidly into systematists, who still continue to de- 

 scribe genera and species, and biological entomologists, who combine with 

 their biological studies a study of the relationships of the insects to one 

 another and to their environment. With the general spread of scientific 

 education during the last quarter of a century, there can be no doubt 

 that a large number of entomologists, who, in the days when Sir John 

 Lnbl>ock })enned the above extract, could never possibly have hoped to 

 be anything more than collectors, or, at the most, systematists, are now 

 really good and earnest scientific students. 



Of all the Orders that come within the ken of entomological science, 

 tlie Lepidoptera have furnished the greatest amount of material for 

 philosophic study. The coleo]iterist still works away at his species ; 

 but scarcely any coleoptei'ist of repute has written a deeply philosoi)hical 

 paper on tlie Order which he has made his special study. The mar- 

 vellous habits of ants, bees and social wasps have brought the hymen- 

 opterist to the fore, bixt the students of the other orders rarely write 

 anything of general interest. The young and well-educated individiial, 

 who to-day takes up the collecting of Lepidoptera as recreation and 

 study condjined, usually puts enough energy into his work to name the 

 Macro-lepidoptera of his native country in two or three j^ears, and the 

 Micro-lepidoptera in three or four more, and then he usually commences 

 to look about for varieties. True, one here and there may do tliis from 

 the most mercenary and unworthy motives, and with no desire to learn 

 what the diversities and differences ex^jressed by variation mean, just 

 as he mai/ have collected Macro- and Micro-le2)ido})tera without 

 wishing to understand their hal)its, anatomy or physiology. But, 

 in such cases, the collections are the end instead of the means, and we. 

 I am sure, shall all agree with the sentiment expressed b}' Sir John 

 Lubbock, that " to collect merely for the sake of collecting, has a direct 

 tendenc}' to narrow the mind. To aspire onl}' to be able to say that 



