4i6 



NA TURE 



[September i, 1892 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects. 3y C . 



V. Riley. (Washington : Government Printing Office, 



1892.) 

 During the last few years there has been in America 

 a considerable increase of the number of persons 

 interested in entomology. This may be due mainly to 

 the fact that farmers have very practical reasons for 

 studying insects, but no doubt it springs in part from a 

 growing appreciation of the scientific aspects of the sub- 

 ject. However the increased interest is to be explained, 

 one of its results is a constant demand, especially from 

 correspondents of the U.S. Museum and the Department 

 of Agriculture, for information as to how to collect, pre- 

 serve, and mount insects. In the present work Mr. Riley 

 undertakes to meet this demand. He also brings together 

 a number of directions on points connected with such 

 matters as the proper packing of insects for transmission 

 through the mails or otherwise ; labelling ; methods of 

 rearing ; boxes and cabinets ; and text-books. The work 

 was prepared as a part of a Bulletin of the National 

 Museum, but is also issued separately ; and we need 

 scarcely say that it is likely to be of great service to the 

 class for whose benefit it was originally planned. Mr. 

 Riley knows his subject so thoroughly that he is able to 

 explain it simply and clearly, and the value of the text is 

 enhanced by a large number of suitable illustrations. 

 We may note that, in a paragraph on the scope and im- 

 portance of entomology, he refers to various estimates of 

 the number of insects in the world. Linnaeus knew 

 nearly 3000 species. In 1853 Dr. John Day thought 

 there might be 250,000 species on the globe. Dr. Sharp's 

 estimate thirty years later was between 500,000 and 

 1,000,000. In 1889 the estimate formed by Sharp and 

 Walsingham reached nearly 2,000,000. Mr. Riley thinks 

 even this estimate too low. Considering that species 

 have been best worked up in the more temperate portions 

 of the globe, that in the more tropical portions a vast 

 number of species still remain to be characterized and 

 named, that many portions of the globe are ento- 

 mologically unexplored, and that even in the best worked- 

 up regions by far the larger portion of the Micro- 

 Hymenoptera and Micro-Diptera remain absolutely 

 undescribed in our collections, and have been but very 

 partially collected, he is of opinion that to say there are 

 10,000,000 species of insects in the world would be "a 

 moderate estimate." 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[ Tkt Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. ^ 



Science and the State. 



In last week's Nature I find the statement that I was 

 allowed to leave the public service " withoat the slightest 

 recognition " by the State. 



However distasteful it may be to me to have anything to say 

 on this subject, I feel bound, in justice both to Lord Salisbury's 

 and to Mr. Gladstone's former Governments, to point out that 

 it is incorrect. Very substantial recognition was awarded me 

 by both ; and the late Lord Iddesleigh, in offering to recom- 

 mend me for a Civil List pension, expressly put it as an honour. 



The distinction which the Queen has recently been pleased 

 to confer upon me must therefore, I am afraid, be placed in the 

 category of "unearned increments." T. H. Huxley. 



Barmouth, Wales, August 30, 1892. 



[We did not refer to such recognition as is implied in the 

 granting of pensions. What we meant was that the State 

 ought to have marked its appreciation of Prof. Huxley's great 

 services by conferring on him some national distinction of the 

 kind he has now received. — Ed.] 



NO. I 192, VOL. 46] 



An International Zoological Record. 



On this subject Mr. Minchin (Nature, August 18, p. 367) 

 writes as a Recorder, and he writes feelingly. Those who use 

 Records can write with feeling too. The absurd was'e 

 of labour involved, even in the production of a single Record, by 

 the present system is hardly to be excused by the consideration 

 that the labour is voluntary. I say " voluntary " advisedly, for 

 some three or four pounds is no pay for a month's hard work. 

 And yet, for all this toil, the result, when, after a year or so of 

 delay, we are presented with it, is notoriously unsatisfactory. 

 It is indeed impossible for a single individual — often very far 

 from acquainted with the subject he is recording — to ^^ork 

 through all the scientific literature of the whole world for the 

 preceding year, in search of some scattered references. Actually 

 impossible, for the literature of one year never comes completely 

 to hand before the end of the next, and perhaps not then ; and 

 this the Recorders seem to know, for many of them postpone 

 their work till the autumn, though it should have already been 

 published in the spring. The acceptance of Mr. Minchin's 

 admirable suggestions would do away with the ridiculous de- 

 cimiplication of labour, but it would neither make the Record 

 complete nor hasten its publication. The public are probably 

 more anxious for the latter results than they are for the relief of 

 the Rtcorders. 



Almost absolute completeness, a higher standard of work, and 

 greater expedition, would probably be attained by some such 

 organization as the following : — In each country a Bibliographer, 

 possessing an all-round acquaintance with the subjects to be 

 recorded ; this bibliographer simply to record, on separate slips, 

 titles and places of publication of papers issued in . his own 

 country (and therefore probably in his own language), and to 

 mark by some :?ymbol the groups of animals or facts alluded to 

 in those papers. An Editor-in-chief, situated in some convenient 

 postal and printing centre, e.g , Naples, London, New York, 

 Berlin, Paris, or Washington ; this editor to govern the general 

 plan of the Record, at present somewhat anarchic, to sort and 

 distribute to specialists the slips which he receives from the 

 bibliographers, and to edit the work. Lastly, for each group or 

 division of a group, a Specialist, who, on receipt of the title- 

 slips from the editor, should prepare the lists of new species, 

 the abstracts of the papers, and a general review of advance in 

 the subject. It may be pointed out that, by means of carbon- 

 paper, title-slips can be easily written in duplicate or even trip- 

 licate ; thus, by one writing of the bibliographer, slips can be 

 prepared for the information of two or three specialists. 



Such a scheme has the following advantages : — The literature 

 is only gone through twice, instead of perhaps a dozen times. 

 There is a possibility of completeness without much effort. 

 Dates of publication can be ascertained with greater certitude. 

 The quality of the work is improved by the employment of those 

 specialists who will never consent to the colo.ssal drudgery of 

 the present system. Promptness of publication is possible. 

 Thus, all slips for Europe and America could easily be sent to 

 the editor within the first fortnight of the New Year, and by him 

 transferred to specialists before the end of J anuary. Literature 

 from a greater distance would have to be sorted later on. Any 

 specialist worthy of the name would already have seen most of 

 the papers, and, with the help of abstracts from authors, could 

 be ready with his manuscript before March, by which time the 

 literature from the most distant parts would have come in and 

 might be incorporated. The Record should go to press in 

 separate divisions, so that the Birds need not be kept waiting 

 because the Worms were not early ; and the whole might well 

 be issued in April or May. 



The financial question must not be overlooked. As an Inter- 

 national affair the sources of revenue of such a Record would be 

 greatly increased. Not only Zoological and Royal, but also 

 Geological Societies of all nations should be invited to contribute 

 towards its expenses. The printer and the editor would have to 

 be paid as now, the editor perhaps a trifle more. The postage 

 would be a larger item, but postage is now so cheap that it 

 really makes little difference. The bibliographers would of 

 course have to be paid ; but then the work of a bibliographer, 

 even for the most prolific country, would be far less than the 

 present work of the Recorder of, say, the Brachiopoda, who, I 

 believe, gets about 30s. Some specialists would wish to be paid, 

 but others would probably be satisfied by receiving the informa- 

 tion from bibliographers and the abstracts and separate copies 

 from authors. These latter, it is presumed, would gladly send 

 single copies of their works for the use of a well-known specialist, 

 but it is rather hard to have to distribute them to a dozen 



