( civ ) 
Some years ago, when I first learned that the late Mr, 
Alexander Fry had bequeathed his collection to the Museum, 
it struck me that in it there must be an enormous number of 
specimens which would be duplicates, and that these would 
(so far as Coleoptera are concerned) form an excellent nucleus 
for a collection such as I have indicated. 
I think such a scheme is feasible. At any rate I do not 
see any insurmountable difficulty in the establishment of such 
a collection. 
It might be connected with some public museum; but on 
the whole I think it would be better if it were quite an 
independent collection, the property of some society or under 
the care of trustees appointed by our chief entomological 
societies, or by the directors of the great national museums. 
This would facilitate financial and other arrangements, which 
would be difficult if it were a Government museum. 
The space required would not be large, as it would consist 
generally of a single specimen of each species. 
The curator need not be a person requiring a large salary, 
as his chief duties would be to see that the collection was 
kept in a proper state of preservation ; to send out to persons 
(authorized to borrow them) the specimens that they required, 
and to see that they were returned in accordance with 
regulations. The annual expenditure on boxes and other 
necessaries would not be large. 
Most.of you are doubtless aware that the Trustees of the 
British Museum give away annually to other museums large 
numbers of duplicates, and I venture to think that if the 
collection I have suggested were well organized as a museum 
(perhaps as an International Museum) with men of standing 
responsible for it, the Trustees would probably place it on 
their list of institutions to which duplicates may be given. 
Other museums and private individuals would I feel sure 
be willing to contribute specimens. 
Perhaps I might make my plan clearer if I give an example. 
In the course of my work on the Coleopterous family Bupres- 
tide I have had to go through the genus Stigmodera. Of 
this genus there are in the Museum types of 181 species. 
Out of this number there are duplicates of 104 species, to 
