104 JOURNAL OP ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 2 



There is, however, another feature of the question that should not 

 be lost sight of, viz., one's duty to his colleagues. By this I mean 

 he has not, morally, the right to horde up what he learns and thus 

 prevent its being placed on record where other investigators may 

 profit by the information. But, it may be suggested, this will flood 

 our literature with unfinished work. It will inject into our entomo- 

 logical publications the many fragments of information that all 

 good observers will and must accumulate in carrying on any other 

 larger investigation ; and the publication of these places them at the 

 service of other workers. Possibly there may be one who is engaged 

 on a kindred problem in another part of the world but who finds him- 

 self practically at a standstill for the lack of one of those fragments 

 of science which he is unable to secure, — the key stone to the arch, as 

 it were. Besides, we must remember that no entomological w^ork is 

 ever completed. The best that can be done only remains the best 

 until some one with improved facilities and technique, or with added 

 biological knowledge, shall be able to do better. I sometimes liken 

 this to an endless stairway, with baskets placed on each step. The 

 stair is progress and the basket the problem. An investigator, as he 

 makes his way forward and upward, takes up a basket and carries 

 it forward one or more steps, then sets it down and passes on into the 

 unknown. Another follow^s and perhaps does the same, and in this 

 way is advancement accomplished. I never take up a problem that 

 was begun by Harris, Fitch, Riley, Lintner or others without a men- 

 tal picture of the stairway and baskets coming to my mind's eye, 

 and with a feeling of reverence for the good that these men, work- 

 ing with, crude instruments, primitive technique and almost no lit- 

 erature at all, were able to accomplish, and wonder how far I shall 

 be able to lift and carry the basket onward and upward before, like 

 these men, passing to the great unknown beyond. 



I have referred to a more perfect equipment because all of our 

 instruments used in scientific research are continually being improved. 

 Also I have referred to a wider and deeper knowledge of binomies. 

 This leads me to say what you already must have remarked, that 

 economic entomology today is not at all what it was ten years ago 

 and it will not ten years hence be what it is today. If I mistake 

 not, upon you younger men will devolve the duty of making many 

 and diverse revisions. Our present system of classification will fre- 

 quently be found wholly inadequate for your necessities, and our 

 laws of priority are too ridiculous to stand except as an element of 

 discord. 



In dealing with the work of the systematist, I first wish to call at- 



