92 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Board of Agriculture, and papers on injurious insects are continued by 

 Mr. "Whitehead in the ' Journal of the Board of Agriculture,' but a 

 good State Entomologist is yet a desideratum in this country. 



" The Royal Agricultural Society in 1889 determined to employ a 

 young man, and allow him to train himself for the work ; but after he 

 had issued one Report, severely criticised by Miss Ormerod, he seems 

 to have disappeared. The old Collection of Injurious Insects fitted up 

 by the late Andrew Murray at Bethnal Green Museum has been re- 

 modelled by the late Prof. Westwood and our member Mr. Mosley, and 

 placed in the South Kensington Museum. Similar collections have 

 been placed in the Government Museums at Kew, Dublin, and Edin- 

 burgh ; and the subject has been taken up by several county councils, 

 particularly Cheshire, where another of our members, Mr. Newstead, 

 has made himself exceedingly useful in lecturing on the subject, 



" Perhaps the most valuable work that has engaged the attention 

 of our Society has been the compiling of the Lepidoptera Fauna of 

 Liverpool and neighbourhood, and the Coleoptera of Liverpool and 

 neighbourhood. This undertaking was commenced in 1882, and to 

 Dr. Ellis, who acted as editor, the greatest credit is due. It is only a 

 few days since Mr. Barrett, writing to me, said how much he valued 

 and how frequtntly he referred to our Lepidoptera Fauna as to localities 

 for his work on British Lepidoptera, which will probably be the text-book 

 for the next generation. Mr. Sharp is engaged in preparing similar 

 catalogues on the Hemiptera-Heteroptera ; whilst Mr, W. Gardner is 

 preparing one on the Hymenoptera. These catalogues, I understand, 

 will all be based on the original lists we now possess, prepared by our 

 late member, Mr, Benjamin Cooke ; they are added to year by year, 

 and so kept up to date, 



" Very briefly have I this evening glanced at some of the work we 

 have accomplished during the past twenty years. There is every 

 cause for congratulation and encouragement. We have been far from 

 an idle Society, and the work that we have done has been of the 

 greatest scientific importance. From its commencement no fewer 

 than 196 papers or lectures have been given, the greater part of which 

 dealt with new and important subjects relating to entomological 

 science. For twenty years our meetings have been held with the 

 utmost regularity, and the ever-increasing interest in Entomology has 

 been marked by constant additions to our ranks. Most of the old 

 school of naturalists have been removed by death, leaving their 

 empty chairs to be filled by those of new energy ; and I would, 

 therefore, again urge our younger members to assiduous and careful 

 work, not merely in the collecting of specimens, but in a better and 

 more perfect understanding of the science, 



" To the younger worker our library is open for reference; he will 

 find there most of the text-books and standard works upon Entomo- 

 logy, together with periodicals devoted to our particular science for the 

 past twenty or thirty years, 



"Finally, in making a retrospect glance at the rise and progress 

 of the Society, I see every cause for congratulation on the self-evident 

 success of a career extending over a fifth of a century. We have no 

 cause to be ashamed of our labours ; and I have no hesitation in 

 saying that few scientific societies can boast of a better record of 



