alr) 
The first thing that any man must do before putting on 
record his own observations is to see what has been written 
by others on the same subject, and unless he is so rich that 
he can afford to purchase very largely, or has easy access to 
such a public library as can hardly be found out of the great 
Kuropean capitals, he finds a great many papers which he 
is unable to consult. If, after a great expenditure of time, 
labour, and money, he does succeed in getting access to most 
of them, he too often finds that a great deal of his time is 
lost, because so many of the papers and descriptions are 
fragmentary, incomplete, and inaccurate. These faults largely 
arise from the very difficulties I have mentioned, for, though 
some men are so careless that they will not take the trouble 
to consult the sources of information which are at hand, 
many more with the best possible intentions are quite unable 
to do so; and thus the state of things becomes constantly 
worse. Men who would rather not write than write in- 
completely or inaccurately are deterred from writing at all, 
and others, perhaps too many others, are tempted to follow 
bad examples, and thus the standard of work is set low, 
instead of high. 
This state of things may to some slight extent be kept in 
check by societies like our own refusing to publish papers 
which do not come up to a proper standard; but there are 
always smaller and newer societies to be found who will pub- 
lish almost anything written by their members, and as long 
as the rules of science oblige us to recognise all descriptions, 
however and wherever published, this difficulty will continue 
to increase. 
The time for reformation has come, and though I fear 
there will at first be grave difficulties in getting such an 
international agreement on the question as shall have power 
to make its laws binding, yet I think that if the Royal 
Society would appoint a committee to enquire into and report 
on the subject a great deal would be gained. 
Dr. Sharp, who, as editor of the ‘Zoological Record,’ is 
probably more able than any other of us to realise the extent 
of the evil, knows better than I do how many of the 1026 
separate papers on Entomology which he has catalogued in the 
