88 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



How are we to get possession of facts which will assist us in 

 unravelling the tangled skein of hypotheses presented to us ? 

 Hitherto two public methods only have been tried. I think 

 them both inadequate. 



(A.) Simple records of specimens are absolutely worthless to 

 the majority of readers, though the fortunate captor or owner 

 may think otherwise ; and even when by an artist's aid a wider 

 circle is reached, science is not advanced in any way. 



(B.) Of equally little service are the local lists of captures by 

 non-residents ; chronicles of one season, or may be a holiday 

 visit, though perhaps they occasionally contain a geographical 

 record of note, which scientifically places the records on a 

 somewhat higher pedestal. There are comparatively few localities 

 in Britain that have not been more or less worked, albeit in a 

 desultory manner, and the only use of these lists that I can see 

 is the possibility of their being perpetuated in print in some local 

 guide or handbook. 



Will collectors, observers, and even editors, make a fresh 

 departure with the coming season, from these stereotyped 

 records ? 



A simple meteorological note-book of the locality each 

 observer lives in, can easily be kept with the annual diary ; so 

 that any list we may wish to send to a magazine may combine 

 the two. And if we do go away collecting to a distance in the 

 summer, pray let us remember that a note on the soil and 

 subsoil is of more value than telling that we were caught in a 

 thunderstorm or had to obtain refreshment at a wayside inn. 

 If we notice the " blues " to be more violet in their hue than in 

 our own neighbourhood, we may consistently mention it without 

 any speculations as to causes, for they may not show the same 

 hue another year, or any other difference which strikes us 

 concerning our fluttering friends. Then the Editor will, I am 

 sure, be glad of our communications, and he will probably know 

 to whom in that locality to apply for the previous winter or 

 season's weather-table, which, coming as a postscript to our 

 notice, will be one link in the chain of worthy records, which 

 possibly in the future will assist in the elucidation of the unsolved 

 problem. 



An objection may perhaps be raised against the length of the 

 notes thus treated, that is, if both be published together, but 



