196 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, '04 



is advancing in this country by leaps and bounds, but it is not 

 the advance of a well-drilled army but more like that of un- 

 trained recruits, whose object may be the very best, but in 

 their enthusiasm and zeal they get in each other's way. It is 

 said that in the far west, if a bunch of mules are beset by 

 wolves, they collect together in a circle, heads inward, and 

 kick outward toward their enemies ; but sometimes systemat- 

 ists reverse the position and kick each other. The fact is, no 

 one willingly obstructs the progress of his fellow ; but ento- 

 mological nomenclature has driven more than one good student 

 to other sciences, where these difficulties are reduced to the 

 minimum. 



The one who describes a new species, that is new and not a 

 mere trivial variation of an old and well-known one, has done 

 the world of science a direct favor that will live and grow after 

 he has himself passed away ; but if he has only happened upon 

 an individual with one more or one less puncture than one 

 already described, or of a shade different color, or with a few 

 more or a few less hairs, though the habits be the same, and 

 describes this with a long name and publishes his work with a 

 flourish of trumpets, he has simply gotten in somebody's way, 

 and his work will continue an obstruction long after he has 

 been otherwise forgotten. It seems to me, in this day and in 

 the present stage of progress, the systematist might, without 

 serious injury to the cause, vary that well-remembered adage 

 to "be sure he is right, and then " — look again ! When the 

 undescribed material began to dwindle away, as it has in some 

 groups, it was to be hoped that those who must continue to 

 write descriptions would turn to a more careful examination of 

 the things themselves, and study nature by the comparison of 

 different species, using the insects themselves for comparison. 

 But the current has seemingly turned in another direction, and 

 in this advanced age insects themselves are no longer essential, 

 as with a supply of old musty descriptions, written when it 

 was impossible to work as accurately as at present, species and 

 genera galore can be made and unmade without the trials and 

 tribulations of the collector being experienced at all. And the 

 fine points of literary distinctions that are brought into active 



