38 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan., '04 



dreary monotony of scientific hair-splitting by a single remark, which had 

 the slightest tendency towards extending that convulsive movement of 

 the midriff, which the vulgar herd of mankind call 'laughter.' But as 

 this Report is intended chiefly for the use of common folks, who do not 

 think it beneath their dignity to indulge occasionally in a hearty laugh, I 

 shall be pardoned, if I inadvertently here and there drop a word which 

 may cause the cheek of the reader to mantle with a smile. Four hundred 

 years ago Martin Luther said, that ' he could see no reason why the devil 

 should run away with all the good tunes.' 



" I can see no reason, in the year 1867, why the pestilent yellow-covered 

 literature of the day should monopolize all the wit and humor. If there 

 is one thing which I have at heart more than another, it is to popularize 

 science, to bring her down from the awkward high stilts in which she is 

 ordinarily paraded before the world — to show how sweet and attractive 

 she is when the frozen crust in which she is usually enveloped is thawed 

 away by the warm breath of Nature — and more especially to demonstrate 

 how delightful that particular branch of science, to which I have devoted 

 half a life-time, may be made to any one, who will keep his eyes wide 

 open as he walks through his garden or his orchard. If I merely succeed 

 in enticing away a single young woman from her mawkish novelettes and 

 romances into the flowery paths of Entomology, or if I can only induce a 

 single young man, instead of haunting saloons and lounging away his time 

 at street corners, to devote his leisure to studying the wonderful works of 

 the Creator, as exemplified in these tiny miracles of perfection which the 

 people of the United States call ' bugs,' I shall think that I have not written 

 altogether in vain." 



Synopsis of Insect Collections for Distribution to Illinois High 

 Schools. Lepidoptera. By Charles A. Hart, Illinois State Labo- 

 ratory of Natural History, Urbana, Illinois. 



This work lists and briefly de.scribes the commoner insects and those of 

 economic importance. References are given after each species to figures 

 and fuller descriptions in the literature of the subject. This method of 

 issuing collections to schools is a most valuable method of instructing 

 young people and will undoubtedly create a great interest in this branch 

 of natural history among young people We wish this method would be 

 adopted in every State and Territory in the Union. — H. S. 



Aquatic Insects in New York State. N. V State Museum Bulletin 

 68, August, /903, Part j, Life Histories of Odonata, Suborder Zy- 

 goptera. Damsel Flies, by James G. Needham, pp. 218-263 ; Ap- 

 pendix on Odonata, pp 26j-2'j6. James G. Needham ; Distribution 

 of New York Dragonflies, Additional Data, pp. 2^6-279, Dr. P. 

 P: Calvert. Mailed about October i, 1903. 



