— ri2— 



Hagen is a very busy man and unfortunately unable to devote much time 

 to naming insects. 



Mention may be made here of the collection (>f Prdf. Forbes at 

 Champaign, Ills., which, as Prof Riley informs me, is particularh- rich 

 in illustrations of the food habits of birds and fishes. 



In the ArachnidcB the collections are few in number, and owing to 

 the fact that they must be preserved in Alcohol, are differently kept. 1 

 know very little of collections in this class, and can enumerate only, in 

 the order of their respective importance, the collections of Mr. Emerton, 

 Dr. Marx, Prof Underwood, and Mr. Peckham. 



The Myriapods also have but few adherents : so far as I know, ihe 

 collections of Prof Underwood, and Messrs. McNeill and Bollman are 

 the only ones. 



In this brief review I have undoubtedlv omitted many collections 

 well worthy of mention, hut it M'ould have exceeded the purposes of th.- 

 address had I endeavored to present accurate statistics. 



Now however good the collection or however accessible the city con- 

 taining it, all these individual collections have always one drawback : — 

 it depends entirely upon the owner wheiher, when, and how long you 

 shall see them. The student must absolutely submit in all his arrange- 

 ments for .study and comparison to the whims and caprices of the owner 

 of the collection. There is the additional disadvantage, which I hope 

 authors and collectors will some day realize — their uncertain duration. 

 They may be neglected through loss of interest or they may be scattered 

 after death, and the results of life-long labor destroyed. I have seen 

 several instances of this, and there are at least two excellent collections 

 of Lepidoptera in great danger of going the same road — both of them 

 contain many uniques and types, but the relatives of the deceased owner 

 hold on for a fancy price which they do not need and will never obtain. 

 Meanwhile the collections lose in value each year 



It seems to me that all this points irresistibly in one direction. All 

 types should go to some public Institution, offering a fair guarantee (or 

 its permanent existence, and at the same time assurance both that the 

 specimens l)e cared for, and yet open to all reasonable inspection and 

 study by Specialists, at all reasonable times. 



I do not mean by this, in any way to disparage individual collections 

 — on the contrary such a collection, made by a Specialist will in most 

 cases soon outrank Museum collections. Everything depends on special 

 and persistent efforts directed to a definite point — everything must be 

 sacrificed to get lacking species and the result is unavoidal>le. 



A Museum cannot do that without becoming a mere means of the 

 Curator to an individual end. 



[To Bk Continued.] 



