4() 
were frequently recorded from localities in which they never occurred, 
but were so labeled because the owner or collector happened to be 
there. 
Mr. Hopkins said that his system had been modified and improved 
since it was first announced at the Madison meeting; that he was more 
than ever convinced of the importance of some well-planned and con- 
venient system, varied according to the special needs and requirements 
of the individual collector or investigator, by which the necessary col- 
lecting notes and original observations may be permanently recorded, 
so that they will be available and intelligible as long as the specimens 
and notes may exist. 
The records which he considers as absolutely necessary to accom- 
pany all specimens are, exact locality, date, collector’s name, and if any 
further notes are made on food habits, life history, descriptions, ete., 
an unduplicated number (for the species of any given accession cata- 
logue or set of notes) should always accompany the specimens. He 
said that locality and date labels with collector’s name are all right and 
all that are necessary simply for collected material, but all biological 
material, and that on which special observations are noted in a book 
or on a ecard, should, in order to be of permanent value, bear a number 
referring directly to a corresponding number of the entry in the book 
or on the ecard. To avoid the large numbers which would result from 
many years of active work, he has adopted asubcharacter or subnumber, 
or both, to distinguish the many species which may come under the 
head of one general note; as, for example, the insects collected from 
a dead pine tree, accession No. 7775 would refer to the general note, 
while the separate species and their relation to each other and to the 
treesmay be designated by the addition of a letter to the number (7775a), 
which may be extended, as required, from a to z, aud still further 
extended by double letters, or better by HE = & ¥, m p, ete., to 
designate several species found on different parts of the tree, or also 
the parasites and other natural enemies associated with a given enemy 
of the plant. 
With this system it is not necessary to identify the species in the 
field, since the individual number will enable it to be identified at any 
future time or by a specialist, and the name subsequently entered 
with colored ink in the original note. 
He stated that it seemed to him that the permanent usefulness and 
advancement of economic entomology depended, to a great extent, on 
accurate and full field notes systematically recorded, so that they will 
be most available for the individual worker, his assistants, and 
successors. 
Mr. Caudell said that a system almost exactly like that here pro- 
posed by Mr. Ball was introduced some two years ago by a writer in 
the Journal of Applied Microscopy and Laboratory Methods, Volume 
il, page 449 (1899). The scheme was recommended for all kinds of 
