DO YOU STUDY ENTOMOLOGY? 



(By the Editor.) 



" What a question !" exclaims some reader. " Dear me, 

 no ! I catch insects, and like the fun of the thing, but I 

 never thought of making it a study." 



" What a bore !" exclaims another, " to talk of studying 

 Entomology ; why I took it up as a relief from my studies." 



" Oh !" says a third, " it's all very well for big-wigs to 

 make a study of insects ; it may answer their purposes to do 

 so, but it wo'nt answer mine. At any rate, Entomology is 

 a more intellectual pursuit than partridge shooting, without 

 bothering one to probe into the very arcana of science." 



" I am very sorry," says a fourth, " but I can't study ; it 

 always gives me a headache. My doctor tells me I mustn't 

 do anything that requires close application." 



Need we go further to cite the excuses which almost every 

 individual who reads these pages will suggest to himself, in 

 order to show how it is utterly, morally and physically im- 

 possible that he should study Entomology ! 



Is Entomology worthy of being studied ? Perhaps every 

 reader will be disposed to say, " It is :" though quite ready 

 to give some excellent reason why he should be excused. 

 " What is every body's business is nobody's business ;" hence 

 apparently it is that nobody (or almost nobody) takes to the 

 study of Entomology. 



1858 b 



