August, '09] JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



277 



in plates if this be more convenient and several plates may be in- 

 serted together in a report, lessening the cost of the publication. 



In addition to the matter which may be published in the annual 

 report there is often considerable technical work of the station ento- 

 mologist which he wishes to publish in entomological journals or other 

 technical periodicals. The number of such technical papers will un- 

 doubtedly increase in the future. At the New Hampshire station we 

 have just adopted the policy of having a number of separates of such 

 papers printed at the expense of the station and having all such papers 

 labeled ''Scientific Contributions from the N. H. Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station, No. ■ — ." The scientific articles of the station staff 

 will be numbered serially and will be sent to the libraries of the other 

 stations, and a select list and a number of copies will be kept and 

 bound when a volume accumulates. 



Of course it is hardly necessary to add that the natural tendency 

 of some of us to rush into print is a matter which should always be 

 guarded against in all of our publications. Llost of us have been 

 guilty in this regard, but there seems to be more conservatism on 

 this point than formerly, and we trust that all may profit by the only 

 too apparent errors of many of our colleagues in premature publi- 

 cations. Be absolutely sure of your conclusions before publishing 

 them, and if the publication be merely a report of progress make it 

 very clear that the results are merely those of one year's work, that 

 they should not be relied upon conclusively, and do not draw undue 

 conclusions from the work of a single season. The drawing of un- 

 warranted conclusions from one or two years' work is not particularly 

 a matter of publication, as it has to do with the temperament and 

 judgment of the individual and is therefore not necessarily within 

 the province of the speaker, but much injury has been caused in 

 economic entomology by the over-use of printing. 



As a whole, the general tone and quality of the publications of our 

 station entomologists have made a very decided improvement in the 

 last ten years, and in the last five years we have seen verj^ marked 

 advance in the quality of work, and as a consequence in the publica- 

 tions of our economic entomologists. We believe that this will go on 

 and that with the large publication constantly looming up before us we 

 shall be forced to pay more attention to the method and form of pres- 

 entation. 



