rEO(F.EmXGS (II- niK third ENTOMOLOCilCAI, MEETING 977 



collections are large euo\igh ; altlioiigh really, in comparison with the 

 condition of Nature they are intended to exemplify and to make uu 

 understand, tliey are painfiilly incomplete. 



The great Sociologist Herbert Spencer held that it was amongst 

 the very first duties of a civiHzed community to make itself thoroughly 

 ac(iuainted with the environment among which it lives. 



Alas, to think how very far we are from this. There is not a single 

 square mile of the earth's surface of which we know thoroughly the 

 fauna and flora. Hence the number of existing forms with whicli we 

 are totally unacquainted is very great, and I feel that I need not insist 

 on this for I believe all entomologists will admit it. I think I may 

 say with probable truth that not more than one-fourth of the insects 

 existing iu India are represented in any collection, or even in all collec- 

 tions if they could be united or brought together as one. 



But to get together a collection of all the insects of a limited region 

 is merely to lay one of the foundation-stones of the science of entomo- 

 logy in that region. For we have not only to recognize that the creatures 

 exist, but also to become acquainted with their variation, their distri- 

 bution and their habits : to study the anatomy and the development 

 of each species, and (as many at least among us recognize) their evolu- 

 tion, i.e., the relation of their generations. And what a huge number 

 of specimens is required for all these purposes, of this huge number of 

 kinds that we believe to be in existence. 



I Say then, do not discontinue collecting but go on with it with the 

 greater knowledge and discretion that your experience may suggest. 



I urge this because entomology is the science of many generations. 

 In a hundred years (I might say a thousand with almost equal truth) 

 entomology will still be in a rudimentary state ; but in that period 

 many of the iSpecieS of animals now existing will have become extinct. 

 This constant extinction of other animals by the extension of civiHza- 

 tion is one of the saddest facts that the naturalist is forced to recognize, 

 and we should at least endeavour to preserve some record of them for 

 the instruction of posterity. It is frequently said nowadays that 

 posterity can take care of itself, but it cannot do so in the matter of a 

 knowledge c)f the animals that we have caused to cease to exist. 



I trast these few considerations, which must be famihar to many 

 if not to all of you, may tend to promote the habit and art of collect- 

 ing. This period ought in the history of entomology to be marked as 

 the age of collections. 



These very imperfect remarks on an important subject should 

 naturally be followed by others on the preservation and distribution 

 of the specimens collected. But this would take me too far for a Meeting 



l2 



