of the Study of Entomology. 39 



not better to content one's-self with a general information than to 

 penetrate into these mysteries, where we at once find ourselves at 

 a depth where our labours are hardly appreciated by any of our 

 acquaintance ? . 



By no means ; the bee rifles the flower of its honey not for its 

 own immediate pleasure and enjoyment, but in order that it may 

 be carried home and added to the common store for the future 

 use of the community : the bee swallows the honey, and after- 

 wards regurgitates it into a cell prepared for its reception ; so 

 must it be with the scientific student, — he must probe science 

 to her innermost recesses, (he must remember that the bee buries 

 herself in the corolla of some tubular flower,) and having acquired 

 an amount of knowledge by the actual investigation of objects 

 themselves, he must arrange and classify the knowledge so ob- 

 tained, and then, having thoroughly digested it, he must repro- 

 duce it in a simple, intelligible form, so that those who have not 

 time to pursue for themselves the peculiar branch of study to 

 which he is devoted, may yet be able to derive advantage from 

 his labours ; just as the bees which remain occupied in the hive 

 are benefited by the honey collected by those which go abroad. 



Each student thus adds not only to his own hiowledge, but also 

 to the information of many others, and he in turn will derive an 

 excess of gratification and pleasure from the labours of other 

 students in different branches of science, far above that which the 

 generally well-informed man derives from the same labours. 



It may be that it will sometimes happen that the student, who 

 has penetrated the hidden mysteries of some branch of science, 

 will selfishly content himself with enjoying the sweets of know- 

 ledge, without endeavouring to make others partakers of his good 

 cheer : either from laziness, egotism or a feeling of contempt for 

 those beneath him, he may be inclined either to keep his know- 

 ledge entirely to himself, or else to publish it in such a form that 

 it can only be comprehended by those almost as conversant with 

 the subject as he happens to be himself. Such feelings should be 

 carefully guarded against, as, if once they find entrance, they 

 would be apt to increase in the mind of the student and to di- 

 minish his usefulness. 



In the course of the next few years we shall probably see a 

 large increase in the crop of Entomological students, and it is of 

 very great importance to the progress of science that each indi- 

 vidual should not attempt too much, but should devote his ener- 

 gies and attention to some comparatively limited group. If twenty 

 individuals were each to master a separate group of some of the 



