ANNALS 



OF 



The Entomological Society of America 



Volume XIII MARCH. 1920 Numb« 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY m^Ti^fi?;:;;^- 

 NORTH AMERICA.* 



ByW.J.Ho..,.o. » APR 30 1920 



The other day in one of the large astronomical dbservatbries 

 of our country the Director showed me some of the plates, which 

 they are making in collaboration with other observatories, 

 which have united to systematically photograph the whole of 

 the sidereal expanse. The plates showed innumerable little 

 white dots on a black background. The largest of these dots 

 were not bigger than a small fly-speck. "How many suns are 

 there?" I asked. "There are only about five thousand visible 

 to the naked eye in both hemispheres," replied the astronomer, 

 "but with the help of our improved telescopes., reinforced by 

 photography, it is estimated that we can now locate about two 

 millions of suns." "Just about the number of the species of 

 insects, with which we entomologists have to deal," I answered, 

 "and we have the advantage of being able to get at them and 

 dissect them, and learn all about them, while you at the utmost 

 can only learn a little about these stars." 



"Natura maxime miranda in minimis- " 



But my theme this evening is not the vastness of the field of 

 entomological research. When I was requested to address you, 

 I chose as my subject the development of our science in North 

 America. 



The first studies of the insect-life of the New World were 

 made by Europeans. We must not overlook the writings of the 

 Spanish chroniclers, in whose pages we occasionally find ref- 



* Annual address delivered before the Entomological Society of America, 

 St. Louis, Missouri, December 30, 1919. 



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