1920] '- Hdlland: Entomology in North America 3 



and others of the enclycopedists, who collaborated with him, 

 notably A. G. Olivier. 



A work of great beauty for the times, which began to appear 

 in 1806, is Hiibner's Exotische Schmetterlinge. It continued to 

 be issued until 1824, and was supplemented from 1818-1832 by 

 Carl Geyer. In this quite a considerable number of North 

 American lepidoptera are represented for the first time by rec- 

 ognizable figures. We also must not forget the writings of 

 Palisot de Beauvois. 



The earliest paper written by a native of America upon an 

 entomological theme to which I have been able to find ref- 

 erence is an article by John Bartram, who was born in 1701 in 

 Pennsylvania, and who in the Philosophical Transactions, pub- 

 lished in London in 1745, gives "An Account of Some Very 

 Curious Wasp-Nests of Clay in Pennsylvania," accompanied by 

 a figure. He subsequently contributed several other brief 

 entomological papers to the same journal. Moses Bartram, 

 his son, in 1766 wrote an article entitled, "Observations on the 

 Cicada or Locust of America, which Appears Periodically Once 

 in 16 or 17 Years." This was published in 1767 in the Annual 

 Register, the editor of which states that the paper had been 

 "communicated by the ingenious Peter CoUinson." The name 

 of Collinson is perpetuated in the genus Collinsonia, one of the 

 Labiatce. Collinson aided Linnasus, the author of the genus, by 

 sending him collections of exotic plants. 



-The real beginning of an indigenous literature dealing in a 

 truly scientific manner with entomological subjects is found in 

 the writings of Thomas Say, the Patron Saint of our Society, 

 who was born in Philadelphia in 1787, the year in which the 

 Northwest Territory was organized by the Congress of the Thir- 

 teen States, and in which the General Assembly of Pennsylvania 

 granted the first charter for an institution of learning west of 

 the Allegheny Mountains to the school, which is now the Uni- 

 versity of Pittsburgh. Thomas Say was one of the founders of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, which cel- 

 ebrated its centennial in 1912. The first paper from his pen, 

 dealing with entomology, was entitled "Description of Several 

 New Species of North American Insects." It appeared in the 

 Journal of the Academy in June, 1817, being pages 19-23 of the 

 First Volume of that important publication. 



