ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



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Philadelphia, Pa., September, 1903. 



While it is true that the literature of entomology comprises 

 somewhere between forty and fifty per cent, of all zoology, it 

 appears there is not enough work done to do justice to the 

 subject, as the number of species is relatively so much larger 

 as compared with zoology in other branches. We need more 

 workers in every order to revise and monograph species, 

 genera and families. Systematic work comes first, as we must 

 classify objects in nature to utilize them when it comes to 

 biology, economy, etc. Every working entomologist knows 

 of groups of species that should be put in better shape, and 

 wishes that the work could be done. This applies to all 

 orders. While the interest in entomology has taken great 

 strides, we still see the necessity of more students to put the 

 work on a still firmer foundation. In the Coleoptera for in- 

 stance there are many genera and families needing revision, 

 and in this order we are also badly in need of a reference list 

 giving also the distribution. In the Eepidoptera we need a revi- 

 sion of the genera Thecla and Lyccena, and particularly all the 

 Hesperidae. The other orders are as badl}^ off, and it is to be 

 hoped that more people will take up the work and subdivide 

 the labor, as there is room for all. We need more good popu- 

 lar works to interest those persons who may eventually be- 

 come entomologists. A popular work on the Coleoptera is 

 very badly needed, but it will be an enormous undertaking for 

 any one person. We also need more students of the life-his- 

 tory of insects. The interest is growing, bi^t the subject is vast. 



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