April, '07] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 157 



De Luxe Editions of Entomological Works. 



By C. F. Baker. 

 Estacion Agronomica, Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba. 



In late years I have been exerting myself to the utmost to 

 interest American entomologists in the matter of possible bet- 

 ter methods in entomological publishing. I have corresponded 

 and talked with many concerning it, and they have all agreed 

 heartily enough with me, though the point of action has not 

 yet been reached. American entomological publications are 

 primarily for American entomologists, are supported by them 

 quite largely, the subject matter is contributed by them, and 

 they can prescribe, if they will, the form that those publica- 

 tions are to take. That the present condition is an almost 

 intolerable one in certain respects, I have partly brought out 

 in an article in Entomological News entitled ' ' Entomologi- 

 cal Literature, the bete noire of the Entomologist." * 



There are also other very striking features in connection 

 with the matter which I shall bring out from time to time. 

 One of the most remarkable, and one that should certainly set 

 American Entomologists to thinking, is the present tendency 

 towards the publishing of costly de luxe editions of works on 

 groups in which there is absolutely no good reason for a de 

 luxe setting, as there might be among some Lepidoptera, and 

 in which this form frequently seriously interferes with the 

 very purpose for which the work is intended. 



As a concrete example of this allow me to cite Ashmead's 

 synopsis of the Chalcids, recently published by the Carnegie 

 Museum, an institution supposed to be primarily founded in 

 part for the promotion of entomology in the interests of Ameri- 

 can entomologists. It was a great thing theoretically for this 

 museum to have published such a work. Did it turn out, 

 however, to the practical benefit of the mass of American en- 

 tomologists ? Let us examine it and see. It measures ten by 

 thirteen and one-fourth inches and is one and one-fourth 

 inches thick, and weighs four pounds and six ounces. It has 

 three hundred and thirty pages, with about thirty-three lines 

 to the page, the full printed pages carrying about four hundred 



* Ent. News, Vol. xvi, pp. 264-270, Oct., 1905. 



