THE EXTOJtOLOGICAI. SOCIETY OF LONDON's FIRST CONVERSAZIONE. 168 



and it is difficult to persuade some people that what they know is 

 worth telling, even when one knows them well ; others, who are 

 largeh' solitary in their entomological habits, are hardly to be persuaded 

 at all, and their work fails because no one knows of it and they tell 

 no one of it. 



Social functions then make for progress. We saw on May 15th 

 entomologists who had made it their business to come from far-distant 

 places, and many north of England, Scots, and Vest of England entomo- 

 logists — possibly others from Ireland and Wales — with their wives, 

 daughters, and sisters were present. We have no doubt that many 

 invitations to visit were given and accepted, the origin in many cases 

 of a life-long friendship. 



The Committee had arranged for three illustrated lectures — (1) 

 Mr. Donisthorpe — " Ants and their Guests." (2) Major Ross — 

 " Sleeping Sickness." (3) " Mimicry and Warning Colours," by 

 Professor Foulton. Mr. Donisthorpe's lecture was very successful, but 

 that of Major Ross was drawn out far beyond the allotted time, and so 

 Professor Poulton's had to be missed, a great disappointment to many. 



Among the exhibits there were some most interesting things — 

 Mr. Donisthorpe's " ants' nest " attracted a great deal of attention, as 

 also did Mr. Newman's living butterfly larvfe, and the excellent pictures of 

 Coleophora and Lit/iocolletis by Miss Garnett. The paintings of the aber- 

 ratisns in the " Capper " collection were very unequal, but some were 

 very nice. Why have these not been published as a contribution to 

 knowledge even though the expense were personal and the matter 

 considered less as business than as a labour of love? The old masters 

 did these things, their work could never have "paid" in the modern 

 sense, but everything must pay now-a-daysin a commercial sense, and the 

 days of patronage are largely over. One wonders whether, on the whole, 

 science — except applied science — has not lost by it. We get a large quan- 

 tity of matter printed now, but is the actual advance equal to that made 

 by the few in bj-gone days ? One looks round the room and wonders. 

 It is the good things that are, as a rule, not pushed. They do not 

 appeal to the million, and they are still hidden in private drawers, 

 whilst Popular entomology so-called is served up for the Public. 



Mr. Elwes' exhibition drawers, glass both sides and turning round 

 " lucky-box" fashion on a swivel, are an excellent departure. Numbers 

 of first class exhibits in exotic insects of all orders, Palaearctic lepidop- 

 tera, British lepidoptera and coleoptera attract attention. Marvellous 

 microscopes fitted with almost everything that the heart of microscopist 

 could desire ; beautiful cases arranged to exhibit certain phases of 

 mimicry and protective resemblance, over which Professor Poulton 

 presided, and the details of which he explained simply and effectively 

 over and over again to the uninitiated, were also noticeable. To see Mr. 

 and Mrs. Hanbury reminded one of the great Entomological Conversa- 

 zione held by the City of London Ent. Society at the London Institu- 

 tion some few years since, and provoked comparisons, not altogether 

 unfavourable to the past. Mr. and Mrs. Adkin reminded one of the 

 many similar successful ones they have helped to engineer for the 

 South London Entomological Society. Past-Presidents and important 

 people galore were present, but entomologists who wish to know of 

 them should have been there to meet them, and we cannot unfortu- 

 nately deal with this phase of the matter. It were, indeed, too vast. 



