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THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 71 



observer, and truly good man, without regretting that, from an 

 excess of modesty, he always shrank from giving publicity to 

 his researches, and that so vast an amount of information as 

 he possessed should be so completely lost to Science. 



It is no light matter to take up the study of wasps. There 

 is scarcely any insect so universally feared and detested as 

 the wasp : it is a very rare thing indeed to find a male of the 

 genus Homo who does not consider it a meritorious act to 

 kill a wasp ; or a female who would consider herself entitled 

 to make her appearance in good society, unless she screamed 

 at every wasp that entered her drawing-room : in both in- 

 stances some allowance must be made for the love of display, 

 but after deducting this, there remains a very considerable 

 residuum of real antipathy and real fear. To take up such a 

 creature and write lovingly about him, as Dr. Ormerod has 

 most certainly done, requires a large amount of what is com- 

 monly called " pluck ;" and I cordially and unreservedly con- 

 gratulate him, not only on his courage, but on his success. 



Nevertheless it is the duty of the 'Entomologist' to be just 

 as well as generous, and to restrain within due bounds that 

 excess of "gush" with which it is ever ready to welcome a 

 fellow-labourer in the field of Science. 



In the first place, I may observe that Dr. Ormerod's 

 attempts to display erudition as an entomologist are singu- 

 larly unhappy ; nothing can well be more unfortunate than 

 the following sentence on classification: — "The Eumenidae 

 or solitary group are widely distributed over the surface of 

 the globe. Perhaps they are less variously represented in 

 Great Britain than in most other places, for we have only one 

 very local species, Eumenes coarctata, and twelve varieties of 

 Odynerus, or of kindred species not readily distinguished 

 from it." I cannot pretend to say that I do not perceive a 

 meaning looming through this obscure phraseology, but that 

 meaning would have been better conveyed thus: — "1 have 

 read with considerable attention Mr. Smith's detailed descrip- 

 tions of the British Eumenidae, pp. 197 — 211 of his Museum 

 Catalogue, and I find he describes one species of Eumenes, 

 and twelve of Odynerus : the Eumenes seems very distinct, 

 but as for the twelve species of Odynerus, 1 find great diffi- 

 culty in distinguishing them from each other." And no blame 

 to him either, for they are very hard to make out. 



