40 Mr. II. T. Stainton on the Onward Progress 



many of the insect tribes that liave as yet been little explored, 

 and if each were to elaborate the knowledge he obtained so as to 

 make it available to the community, who can doubt that a vast 

 impetus would be given to the onward progre^ of our science, 

 and that it would advance by rapidly accelerating strides? 



Each investigator of any particular group becomes at once a 

 focus to which all chance observations by others are referred ; it 

 is thus that, in looking through Mr. Smith's " Monograph of the 

 British Bees," we find that it condenses not merely his own ob- 

 servations during twenty years, but also a mass of extraneous 

 observations made by others, themselves unaware of their value, 

 but which, being communicated to Mr. Smith, were at once re- 

 cognised by him as supplying some important link in the chain of 

 information he was collecting. 



And this alone is no slight help to the progress of Entomology. 

 Every year and during the season, one may say every day, a 

 number of observations are made, some merely repetitions of such 

 as had been often made before, some confirmatory of facts which 

 rested only on the evidence of single observations, some made for 

 the first time. Many, very many of these never get recorded ; 

 the observers are not aware of their value. But, let each branch 

 of the extensive circle of Entomology have its special investigator, 

 and each observer can at once refer to him any fact which has 

 struck him, bearing, or supposed to bear, upon his special subject ; 

 and though we can never expect that every observation made will 

 be rendered available, we may reasonably expect that the number 

 of observations which at present fall still-born to the ground will 

 be reduced. 



The substance of the deductions arrived at, in the progress of 

 this inquiry, is as follows. 



1. Let each student of Entomology restrict himself to some 



limited field of investigation. 



2. Let each make known the object of his peculiar predilections 



and encourage general observers to communicate to him 

 any facts bearing upon it. 



3. Let each, as soon as he has acquired and digested a suffi- 



cient amount of knowledge, publish it in an intelligible 



form, not restricting himself solely to details, but wherever 



opportunities occur, generalising the subject as much as 



the extent of his knowledge will permit. 



Immediately this third point has been reached on any one 



branch, it will give a vast impetus to its study, and will render 



the co-operation of observers more active and also more service- 



