1920] Holland: Entomology in North America 9 



treasury. Two of Packard's great monographs were indirectly 

 published at government expense; and Dr. Scudder's monu- 

 mental work upon fossil insects and his indispensable "Nomen- 

 clator Zoologicus'' were issued under governmental auspices. 

 Otherwise these most prolific writers were compelled to depend 

 upon their own resources or upon such help as could be derived 

 from the learned societies, with which they were affiliated, or 

 the serial journals, the pages of which were open to them. I 

 recall in this connection the fact that the late William H. 

 Edwards being desirous to publish the third volume of his 

 "Butterflies of North America," a very expensive undertaking, 

 wrote to me saying that in order to secure the necessary funds 

 he had determined to offer his entire collection to the Trustees 

 of the British Museum, hoping that they might purchase it, as 

 they had already purchased the collection of A. R. Grote, con- 

 taining his types of the moths of North America. I forthwith 

 wrote to him, proposing that I would assume the expense of 

 publishing the third volume of his work, provided that the 

 collection should be ultimately turned over to me. The offer 

 was promptly accepted. I only mention the incident, because 

 it throws light upon the difficulties under which some of the 

 most important works at our command were brought into 

 being by their authors. Dr. Scudder told me that his "Butter- 

 flies of New England" had involved a personal outlay on his 

 part of nearly ten thousand dollars, and that he would deem 

 himself fortunate if the sales ultimately should return to him 

 the capital he had invested, not speaking of the time and labor 

 he had expended. Many of the most important works we possess 

 are due to individual initiative in their conception and execution. 

 A very remarkable work of this sort, which it might have been 

 the glory of a nation to produce, is the Biologia Centrali- 

 Americana, which stands as a monument to the learning and the 

 generosity of a wealthy Englishman, my friend, the late F. 

 Ducane Godman. Parts of this colossal work were written by 

 Americans, notably the Section dealing with the Diptera, which 

 was produced by our lamented colleague, Professor S. W. 

 Williston. 



Proceeding to a somewhat closer review of entomological 

 activity in North America during the past fifty years, it is seen 

 that the number of periodicals accessible to entomologists, who 

 may desire to publish their observations, has been greatly 



