June, 1914] j _ ' - ' 125 



(Bdttortal. 



As the " Entomologist's Monthly Magazine " has now completed 

 the fiftieth year of its existence — the first number having been 

 published on June 1st, 1864 — a brief retrospect of its history during 

 this period will doubtless be welcomed by our contributors and readers. 



In the early "sixties " of the last century, a great deal of 

 encouragement and assistance was afforded to incipient Entomologists 

 by several of the leading exponents of our Science in London, 

 prominent among these being Mr. J.W.Douglas and Mr. H. T. Stainton. 

 The latter gentleman was for many years in the habit of throwing open 

 his valuable and extensive library (which included the fine series of 

 Entomological works amassed by James Francis Stephens), and his 

 equally valuable collections, on one evening in the week to all comers 

 interested in insects, besides personally conducting afternoon excursions 

 in the summer months in the then productive neighbourhood of his 

 residence at Lewisham. This good example was followed by other 

 well-known Entomologists in the provinces, and as an immediate 

 result of this activity, the need of a periodical entirely devoted to the 

 subject was greatly felt at this time. The " Entomologist " initiated 

 by Edward Newman in 1840, was in 1843 merged into the " Zoologist," 

 a monthly magazine of general Natural History, which still continues 

 to hold a high place among journals of that kind ; and it was not re- 

 sumed as a separate publication until more than twenty years later. The 

 " Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer," conducted by H. T. Stainton, 

 after several years of very useful and highly appreciated existence, 

 came to a close in 1862 ; and the " Weekly Entomologist" a subsequent 

 periodical on somewhat similar lines, edited by Thomas Blackburn and 

 published at Altrincham, Cheshire, had but a brief career. The " Journal 

 of Entomology," a well illustrated but somewhat expensive magazine 

 dealing almost entirely with exotic insects, was published at irregular 

 intervals between 1860 and 1866, and valuable notes on Entomological 

 subjects continued to appear in the " Zoologist," but the space available 

 therein for records of this nature was obviously inadequate. 



Our magazine was initiated under the joint direction of five of 

 the most distinguished Entomological workers of the day: — Messrs. 

 H. T. Stainton, R. McLachlan, E. C. Rye, T. Blackburn, and 

 Dr. H. G-uard Knaggs. In the first number commenced a series of 

 exceedingly important papers on new Central American butterflies by 

 the famous naturalist Henry Walter Bates, who was for many years a 



