INTRODUCTORY NOTE xvii 



Well, the Boston Garden has no doubt 

 grown more populous of recent years, as the 

 city lamps have increased in number and 

 brightness. So I shall try to believe that it 

 may not be entirely due to Mr. Wright's 

 superior acuteness that his Garden list is so 

 much longer than mine ever was. I had my 

 fun, at all events, and if he has had more, 

 why, so much the better. That he is a 

 sharp-eyed and competent observer, quick 

 to see but slow to conclude, having (what is 

 by no means the commonest thing in the 

 world) a wholesome appreciation of the dif- 

 ference between guesswork and certainty, 

 of so much I am sure, having been more 

 than once with him in the field. Some- 

 times, noting his habits of thought and 

 speech, I have been reminded of the apos- 

 tolic admonition, " Let your moderation 

 be known unto all men " : a salutary admo- 

 nition, surely, for all scientific observers, 

 and especially for those of us who bring 

 home no " specimens" with which to es- 

 tablish our testimony. I am glad that Mr. 

 Wright's patient studies are to be published. 



