Oct., '05] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 269 



Southern California Academy of Sciences, part of the Pro- 

 ceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, parts of the 

 Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, the Kansas 

 University Quarterly, the American Naturalist, the Biological 

 Bulletin, Bulletin of the Scientific Laboratory of Denison 

 University, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia, and so on, and on, and on — and not only all 

 this but more, for now, through the remarkably metastatic 

 activity of one of our entomologists, he must also subscribe to 

 various English journals, which he can probably ill-afford, in 

 order to get together what is being written concerning the 

 bees of his neighborhood. Surely we are building a Tower of 

 Babel for American Entomology ! 



If societies cannot be convinced that the publishing of pon- 

 derous tomes containing a pot pourri of everything in science, 

 is not only of no assistance to the greater number of scientific 

 workers but a colossal stumbling block — then surely they 

 might at least be led to adopt the very simple, practical and 

 beneficent device now practiced in the case of Proceedings of 

 the Biological Society of Washington and the Invertebrata 

 Pacifica — the gathering of all closely allied papers in single 

 numbers of a volume, to be issued separately. 



Scientific publications, like the scientists, will be compelled 

 to respond to the pressure of development, and specialize. 

 The projection of antiquated methods of publication into the 

 complexly organized and concentrated scientific work of to-day 

 is an anomaly. The day of the ordinary entomological journal, 

 which may attempt to cover every phase from that of entomo- 

 logical newspaper, with comic supplement, to a dignified tech- 

 nical journal, and every group of the several million species 

 of insects, is drawing to a close — the more ephemeral it 

 prove to be, the better. May the da)^ soon come when we and 

 our public institutions together shall decide to support an 

 American " Zeitschrift fiir Hymenopterologie," and others of 

 the sort, that may each cover one line and cover it thoroughly' 

 even to the copying of isolated contributions. 



There are many other aspects of this question crying loudly 

 for consideration. I shall contribute to this abbreviated dis- 



