no 



profitable employment and fi-om the hours allotted to sleep, finds him" 

 self over one-hundred dollars out of pocket with just one-half the 

 year's work done; but it is doubtful if this fact alone would discourage 

 us sufficiently to reconcile us to abandoning a work in which we have 

 always felt so much interest. We have, however, recendy tried an ex- 

 periment which, while it has given us a more intimate knowledge of the 

 various idiosyncrasies of our Entomological Brethren, has given us a 

 most positive assurance that our Editorial labors are for the most part 

 unvalued, and, therefore, largely thrown away. This experiment con- 

 sisted, simply, of the sending out of bills to all subscribers who had 

 not paid their subscription for 1884 by the 15th of March. To the.se 

 duns, for they were nothing less, answers were received from seventeen 

 per cent, of those to whom they were addressed. Of this number 

 nearly half simply replied by asking that their subscription be canceled, 

 only one of them being gendemanly enough to acknowledge his legal 

 responsibility by returning the number just received and paying for 

 those already taken out of the Post-Office. Even he seemed to for- 

 get that this treatment of the matter was not a moral one even if it 

 could be excused from a legal standpoint. Inasmuch as he, in common 

 with many others, had been subscribers during 1883, and had taken 

 the January, 1884, number out of the Post-office it was thought safe to 

 calculate the edition therefrom. Of course no calculation could be 

 made for those who would see fit to stop their subscription in the mid- 

 dle of the year, and therefore at the end of the year a considerable 

 number of broken sets will be on hand, the most of which will, doubt- 

 less, be sold for the price of old paper. 



Another class of some size, for whom it is a rare privilege to labor, 

 consists of those who write about as follows: "I have never had to pay 



for Papilio, as Mr. has always paid for it for me. If he is not 



willing to continue doing so I shall have to ask you to discontinue 



sending it." As in a number of cases the Mr. has not sent in his 



own payment it has hardly seemed worth while to dun him for a payment 

 on behalf of his alms-asking brother. Consequently, as Papilio is con- 

 ducted on business principles, the subscription list has been very mate- 

 rially decreased by this cause and the one already given. Of course 

 Papilio has a number of names on its list to whom the Editor is proud 

 to be able to send copies without any charge, knowing that they will 

 be appreciated for their merits and fairly criticised for their shortcom- 

 ings. Such copies are, however, sent only to two classes; to a few 

 who are personal friends of the Editor, and to a somewhat larger num- 

 ber who by their constant and long-continued labors in the field of 

 Entomology have earned the lasting gratitude of their fellows. Many 

 of these however have paid their subscripdons, and in some cases those 

 of others, though they must have been aware that it was not expected 

 of them. 



