Report of the State Entomologist. 169 



national importance. The commission has given us the result of its labors in four large 

 octavo volumes (a fifth is in preparation) and in seven bulletins which more than erjual 

 another volume in size. 



Entomological Societies. 



The establishment of entomological societies has contributed much in stimulating 

 the study of our insects. The first society, under the name of the Entomological Society 

 of Pennsylvania, was established at Baltimore in 1812. It would seem to have been a 

 premature organization, resulting in the publication of no papers, probably in the 

 presentation of none, and with a membership that never exceeded the requirements of 

 official duties. 



At the present there are four societies in active operation in the United States, and 

 one in Canada : established at Washington, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Cambridge, Mass. , 

 and London, Ontario.* Each of these is issuing publications and has its library and 

 collections. There is also an entomological club connected with the American .Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, holding an annual series of meetings for the 

 presentation of papers and for general discussions. 



It is indicative of interest and efficient labor that American entomologists ai-e sus- 

 iaining an equal number of societies with our European collaborators, there being five 

 n Europe — of London, Belgium, France, Italy, and Russia. 



Entomological Collections. 



Several largo collections of insects have been brought together in this country, which 

 fully meet the purpose for which collections in natural history are made, viz.: An 

 exhibition of the fauna, more reliable means of naming new material than from pub- 

 lished descriptions, preservation of types, opportunity of comparison of native forms 

 with those from other parts of the world, and access to ample material needed for 

 monographic work. 



Prominent among the general collections may be mentioned those of the National 

 Museum at Washington, the American Eatomological Society at Philadelphia, and that 

 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The last named 

 is the boast and pride of the American student. In it is contained, with every possible 

 appliance for protection from harm, the collection of Coleoptera which represents the 

 life-labors of Dr. LeConte, and rich with its 4.000 type specimens; Baron von Osten 

 Sa3ken's collection of 2,500 Diptera, including his types and those of Dr. Loew; Cham- 

 bers' collection of Tineidie; the collection made by the Essex Institute of Salem, Jlassa- 

 chusetts; and types of Zeigler, Melsheimer, Say, and others. But its chief attraction is 

 in its biological collection, in which illustration is given, more or less full, of the 

 natural history of above 5,000 species, in their several stages of development, their 

 characteristic depredations, food-plants, architecture, diseases, the parasites that prey 

 upon them, etc. No other collection of the kind in the world surpasses it, if, indeed, 

 any equals it. 



A collection limited to a single order of insects, the Lepidoptera (butterflies and 

 moths), is to be found in Reading, Pa. , which is probably the largest ever brought together 

 by a private individual. It has been made by Mr. Herman Strecker, and has attained 

 its present magnitude and value through many years of labor, of privation, and an 

 enthusiastic zeal which has known no limit short of full representation of all American 

 forms, and the possession of the most rare and desirable of exotics of the several con- 

 tinents and islands of the sea, so far as they have been procurable, regardless of their 

 cost. Something of an idea of its extent may be had from the statement that it occupies 

 600 closely packed drawers of the ordinary German museum size, 16x20, seventy of 

 which are devoted to a single genus of butterflies — Pap /7iO, of which our large yellow 

 swallow-tail may be cited as type. The number of named and classified specimens is 

 said by its owner to exceed 70,000. 



* Entomological Society of Washington, American Entomological Society, Brooklyn Entomological 

 Society, Cambridge Entomological Clvib, anfl the Bntomologieal Society of Ontario. 



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