44 FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT 



the specimen. More extended notes should be made in a permanent 

 memorandum-book, under numbers corresponding to those attached 

 to the specimens mounted or being reared. 



How TO TRANSMIT INSECTS. — Insects about whose habits informa- 

 tion is desired, should, whenever possible, be sent alive. Larvae should 

 be packed in some light tin box, along with a supply of their appro- 

 priate food-plant. The tighter the box, the fresher will the food, as 

 well as the specimens, keep. Insects do not suiFocate so quickly as 

 human beings, and it is worse than useless, in the majority of cases, 

 to punch air-holes in such boxes. Dead specimens may be sent in a 

 variety of ways. Small ones may be dropped into a quill, and in- 

 closed in a letter, or in a small phial, fitted into apiece of bored wood. 

 Those which do not spoil by wetting may be sent in alcohol, or in 

 saw-dust moistened with alcohol. Mounted specimens should always 

 be pinned securely in a cork-lined box, and this packed in a some- 

 what larger one, with cotton-wadding, or. some other yielding sub- 

 stance, in the intervening space, to obviate jarring, and insure safe 

 carriage. When more than one specimen is sent, they should always 

 be numbered. Packages, not exceeding twelve ounces, tied' with 

 string, so that they may be examined, and marked "samples," may be 

 sent by mail, at the rate of one cent for two ounces, under the present 

 postal rules. 



Text-Books. — The only text-book worthy of the name in this 

 country, is Packard's " Guide to the Study of Insects," already referred 

 to — a work which every entomologist should possess. For the novice, 

 Harris's " Insects Injurious to Vegetation," will prove more pleasant 

 and instructive, and he should read Kirby and Spence's "Introduc- 

 tion." Westwood's "Introduction," although published thirty years 

 ago, is indispensable. The reports of the different States should be 

 consulted, and especially those of New York. These are a few of 

 the more important works, but the number might be greatly multi- 

 plied. There is no better text-book, however, than that which lies 

 open before us on every hand — the great text-book prepared for our 

 reading by the Creator. There it is, ready to unfold the great truths 

 it contains, to all who earnestly seek them. I would not decry or 

 depreciate text-books, although — in this country more especially — 

 there are so many inferior and so few good ones ; but the student who 

 confines himself too much to them, is apt to get his originality dwarfed, 

 and to become the mere mouth-piece for others' thoughts. By origi- 

 nal study and investigation, one escapes from the thraldom of mere 

 words, and we should remember that, as Huxley appropriately re- 

 marks, " the study of things and not of words is the source of true 

 knowledge ;" and that " there is a world of facts outside and beyond 

 the world of words." In libraries and museums, the entomologist 

 may find the dry bones of knowledge ; but only in Nature's own 



