IS ENTOMOLOGY PROGRESSING? 9 



probably of other orders, were a disgrace to the age and to 

 the country. This is now to be rectified ; a new catalogue of 

 British Lepidoptera (except the Famece) has appeared : all 

 collections are to be named and arranged by this, — but are 

 they not still all to be copies ? Who refers to the original 

 descriptions to prove their correctness ? Every one takes on 

 trust the saying of this or that Entomologist, and names his 

 cabinet accordingly. Why is this so ? . This is an inquiring 

 age : we do not generally take things on trust in this way, 

 but we make diligent search and inquiry in order to prove 

 them." 



The evil here complained of still exists. But very few 

 dive into the literature of Entomology, but very few devote 

 themselves to the analysis and correction of genera. Nay a 

 recent writer in the Natural History Review is actually so 

 violently opposed to the further study and consequently im- 

 proved arrangement of a group of insects, that he energetically 

 protests against any re-arrangement, because it will be so 

 inconvenient to our collections ; a collection is not to be used 

 for the furtherance of science, but is to form a bar to its 

 progress. We have often been accused of being severe upon 

 our countrymen, but we were never guilty of so great a libel 

 on them as the reviewer in question. The Natural History 

 Review, we may observe en passant, has done wisely to in- 

 port its best paper from abroad, so great is the lack of Ento- 

 mological writers in this country. 



A fair idea of the crop of Entomological writers may be 

 formed by referring to the papers published in the Trans- 

 actions of the Entomological Society of London. It is well 

 known that every paper read before that society is referred 

 to a committee called the Publication Committee, which 

 decides whether or not the paper is worthy of publication 5 

 so that the list of contributors may be assumed not to be a 



