72 [March, 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



Published monthly (except July and August), in charge of the joint 

 publication committees of the Entomological Section of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia, and the American Entomological 

 Society. It will contain not less than 300 pages per annum. It will main- 

 tain no free list whatever, but will leave no measure untried to make it a 

 necessity to every student of insect life, so that its very moderate annual 

 subscription may be considered well spent. 



ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION $1.00, IN ADVANCE. 



J8^" All remittances should be addressed to E. T. Cresson, Treasurer, 

 P. O. Box 248, Philadelphia, Pa.; all other communications to the Editors 

 of Entomological News, Academy of Natural Sciences, Logan Square, 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



Philadelphia, Pa., March, 1894. 



BORROWING BOOKS. 



A correspondent writes as follows: " Is there any possible way of bor- 

 rowing books from the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences or the 

 American Entomological Society ? If not, might not some scheme be 

 devised ? For example, I particularly want to see Ragonot's new mono- 

 graph Phycitidae and several parts of the " Biologia Centrali-Americana." 

 I don't care to buy them; and, in fact, do not want to possess them at all, 

 but if I could borrow such works by paying all cost of transport and de- 

 positing a sum to cover possible loss, it would be a great advantage. You 

 see entomology is being dreadfully crippled by the great difficulty of get- 

 ting necessary works, the result being tliat those not situated near a large 

 library are placed at a disheartening disadvantage. Cannot this matter 

 be brought up before the American Entomological Society or the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences, and see if anything can be done ? Many people 

 would doubtless give books to form the nucleus of such a loan librarj', 

 and probably enough money could be raised to pay the salary of a libra- 

 rian. I think the mere discussion of the matter might have ultimate good 

 results, though nothing was done at present." We see no reason why 

 such a library could not be inaugurated with this idea in view. Of course, 

 such a thing could not be done in any of our society libraries at present, 

 as it would be a manifest injustice to those who pay for the use of the 

 books, and if thej' found a work missing which they wished to consult, 

 there would be war at once. Also, there are few libraries which have 

 sufficient funds to duplicate expensive books, and expensive works are 

 the ones which would be in demand. It would have to be a special li- 

 brary for this purpose alone, with a special fund and librarian. Of course, 

 it could be an adjunct department to some already existing library. 



