94 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



What is the logical raisoii d'etre of a collection of Lepi- 

 doptera ? of what educational value is such a collection? and, 

 looked at from an educational and scientific standpoint, is the 

 game worth the candle ? Most men being engaged during the 

 greater part of the day in business, the amount of time at their 

 disposal is limited ; whilst what time is available for scientific 

 culture is necessarily still more limited. Looking at the subject 

 from this point of view, it occurs to me that the time devoted to 

 making a mere collection of Lepidoptera is very inadequately 

 remunerated by scientific knowledge. Like so many others I 

 commenced collecting as a boy, and at first for the mere sake of 

 collecting. Gradually 1 evolved an interest in Entomology itself, 

 while as I grew older, and became more sensible of the value of 

 time, and also came to have less leisure, I began to seek in my 

 own mind for the justilication of collecting, and to enquire how 

 to study a collection or how to use it as a means to knowledge. 

 Of course everyone must admit that some collections are 

 necessary : we should have perfect collections in museums for 

 reference, for purposes of classification, and for the information 

 of naturalists generally. Again, in the early days of Entomology 

 no doubt collections greatly contributed to the advance of a 

 knowledge of the science ; and if we desire to study the 

 entomology of some newly-discovered country, a typical collection 

 of its insects would be eminently necessary and useful. 



My argument is this : — Now that English Lepidoptera are so 

 well known and described, and typical collections located in 

 various museums, might not the many hundreds of amateur 

 entomologists derive far more pleasure, information, and scientific 

 knowledge from the study of Lepidoptera otherwise pursued than 

 they do from making collections as at present ? It is obvious 

 that these considerations are inapplicable to those who look on 

 their collections as the end of the entomologist. Somebody has 

 somewhere well described man as a " collecting animal " : those 

 who look upon collecting simply from the collector's standpoint 

 may be left to the enjoyment of their delightful — and of course 

 to a great degree instructive — recreation. I am addressing 

 myself to those who look upon a collection simply as a means to 

 scientific knowledge; and my question is — Are these means to 

 an adequate degree productive of the required end ? I am not 

 for a moment denying that much may be learned from a 



