46 



less largely of a negative nature. That is, species not yet 

 found in certain sections of country, are put down as not 

 occurring there, when the fact is no one knows whether they 

 do or do not. If entomologists were to change localities 

 with each other ever}- three or four years, there would be 

 some astonishing revelations along these lines. 



In conclusion, I can only say that the object of this paper 

 is to call attention to the fact, that biological surveys may 

 deal with the present and future, but the past, through no 

 fault of ours, is largely beyond our reach. We can now es- 

 tablish base lines, so to speak, from which to work in future, 

 and at the same time rescue as much as possible from the 

 past. To accomplish this we must have a better knowledge 

 of the development and habits — the sociology if you please 

 — of the forms which we are to study. And what I have 

 before stated, I will again repeat, viz.: there is not a prob- 

 lem in the science of biology that we shall not have occasion 

 to deal with, sooner or later, and to a greater or less degree. 



