THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



203 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Oil the 22d of February, 1859, some iifteeii 

 persons met at No. 728 Eric street, Philadelpliia, 

 I'or tlie ostensible purpose of founding an Ento- 

 molog^ical Society, and during the remainder of 

 that year, they met regularly for mutual im- 

 iJiovemcnt in Entomological knowledge, for the 

 exhibition of specimens and for the formation 

 of private collections. After a hospitable accom- 

 modation of two years and a half in the room 

 of Mr. Chas. Wilt, i;UO South street, the Society 

 moved to the hall which it now occupies. No. 

 ;')18 South U!th street, which was built for the 

 Society's use, by Mr. Jas. Ridings, and afforded 

 at a moderate rent. On the l!»th of April, 18(J2, 

 the Society was chartered by the Legislature, 

 as the "Entomological Society of Philadelphia," 

 but on the Uth of March, 1867, this title was 

 changed to the "American Entomological So- 

 ciety." This change was a wise one, as the pre- 

 vious name couveyed the erroneous idea that the 

 institution was local, whereas it had ever relied 

 on the country at large for support, and had ac- 

 quired an essentially national cli.iracter and a 

 world-wide reputation as the only Society of 

 the kind in America. 



The seven volumes of the Proceedings which 

 have been published contain an immense amount 

 of useful information, and Americans may well 

 be proud of the typography of these volumes 

 and of the scientific value of their contents. In 

 October, 18G.'i, the Society commenced the pub- 

 lication of a little monthly bulletin entitled the 

 Fractical Enlomolotjist ; a journal whicli dis- 

 seminated over the country a vast amount of 

 valuable information of a practical nature, and 

 which was suspended after an existence of two 

 years, principally on account of the liberality of 

 its publishers in charging but a most trivial and 

 unpaying sidjscription price. This little monthly 

 was solely edited the second year by the Senior 

 Editor (and was really the forerunner) of the 

 American Estomoi.ouist. But it is not our 

 inirpose, nor is it necessary to state to our scien- 

 tific readers all that this Society has accom- 

 plished. It has been the means of stimulating 

 research in this most interesting and fascinating 

 department of science; of recording many of 

 the secrets contained in that book which is 

 " printed, paged, collated and bound by the 

 fingers of Omnipotence," and of thus adding to 

 our font of true knowledge. It has in fact 

 given American Entomologists a standing which 

 they never before held in the eyes of the world. 



AVe recently learned, therefore, with much 

 regret, that the Secretary and Curator, Mr. Ezra 



T. Cresson, had been obliged to secure another 

 situation iii consequence of the failure to raise 

 the required amount to hire his services. lu our 

 minds the success of the Society hitherto has 

 depended, in a very great measure, on the effi- 

 cient and indefatigable efforts of this gentleman, 

 and that it requires the constant services of one 

 person to attend to tlie large correspondence, to 

 the publication of the proceedings, and to prop- 

 erly care for and preserve the large collections — 

 needs no argument. The Society has a publi- 

 cation fund of 811,000, which was. generously 

 donated by the late Thomas B. Wilson, and 

 which cannot be used for anything but the pub- 

 lication of the proceedings. It has also a gen- 

 eral fund of .$5,000, tlie income from which about 

 pays the general expenses, such as light, fuel, 

 rent, etc., etc. But there is nothing secured lor 

 a Curator. During the life of Mr. Wilson, he 

 most generously paid for the services of the 

 Curator, but since that time the amount has 

 been annually raised by subscription. People 

 grow tired of subscribing so often however, and 

 the finance committee failed to raise the requisite 

 amount the present year. 



Will the entomologists of this vast country 

 stand by and sec this national collection go to 

 ruin and the Society degenerate, or will they put 

 their shoulders to thewheel and rescue it from its 

 present strait? If a Permanent Fund of !!il5,000 

 or $20,000 conid be raised for the Curator, the 

 Society would forever be independent, and re- 

 lieved of the unpleasant necessity of demanding 

 annual subscriptions. Are there not o<io or lnO 

 persons in North America, who would each sub- 

 scribe, once for all, the sum of .$50; or perhaps 

 150 or 200 who would each subscribe .$100? It 

 seems to us there must be, and we would sug- 

 gest the formation of a committee of five or 

 seven of our most wealthy and influential ento- 

 mologists, to take charge of the matter. If such 

 gentlemen as Coleman T. Robinson, Baron R. 

 Osten Sacken, Dr. J. L. LeCoute, Wm. II. Ed- 

 wards, Edward Norton, Samuel H. Scudder, 

 and Dr. H. Ilagen were to lend their influence, 

 and if the proper steps were taken at some 

 future meeting of the Society, we doubt not but 

 the desired end could be accomplished ! 



t5^ As some of our exchaiiges may wish to 

 illustrate any article they mny copy from the 

 American ENXOMOi.or.isT, we have decided to 

 furnish electrotypes of our wood cuts, at one- 

 half the cost of engraving ; these electrotypes to 

 be retained by the parties receiving them, if 

 thev desire it. 



