202 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. Qune, '04 



broadly applied, in a manner to remove at least some of the 

 present unsatisfactory features. At present there is altogether 

 too much in sj'stematic work left to the opinion of the individ- 

 ual, a condition that has never proven for the best in any of 

 the affairs of human life. An individual may be sincerity and 

 honesty itself, yet be in the wrong, and with far more fre- 

 quency than would a comparatively small body, with a wider 

 range of experience and opinions. 



An Early Collector in California. 



By Fordyce Grinnell, Palo Alto, Cal. 



Pierre Joseph Michel Lorquin was born in Valenciennes, 

 Northern France, about the year 1 800. He entered the Uni- 

 versity of Douay, graduating with honors, when he entered a 

 notary's office as first clerk and rose steadily until he obtained 

 papers which entitled him to practice his profession. In 1840 

 he removed to Paris where he was referee in the High Trib- 

 unal : this was a high office at that time, and the occupant was 

 of considerable importance. In 1848 the Revolution broke 

 out and Lorquin applied for a position in Algiers : he obtained 

 this and took up his residence at that place ; this was his first 

 most important voyage, and here he collected a great amount 

 of valuable and interesting lepidopterological material. 



Hearing of the discovery of gold in California in 1850, he 

 relinquished his position and set out for the new El Dorado ; 

 but gold was not first in his mind, it was the thought of the 

 virgin field he would be the first to explore scientifically, and 

 the number of new things he would be sure to get. He arrived 

 in 1850 and started for the mines in Tuolumne County, prob- 

 ably no doubt to practice his profession as a lawyer, as there 

 was plenty for lawyers to do in those days of '49. Here he 

 began his collections. He sent for his family, and they arriving 

 in 1852, he set out for a tour of the northern part of Cali- 

 fornia ; from Sacramento he went to Downieville, Plumas 

 County, Eldorado County, Stockton and Carson City, Nevada. 

 His excursions were continued in the South where he visited 

 Los Angeles and San Diego. At the latter place he obtained 



