ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



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Philadelphia, Pa., June, 1907. 



At a recent meeting of a profoundly learned society, papers 

 were read in relation to the historical facts of Jonah and the 

 whale, the seat of the soul (in the liver), and others of vast 

 importance to humanity. This has suggested to us that we are 

 very ignorant in relation to some entomological problems never 

 satisfactorily answered. It appears very foolish to bother with 

 the questions of economic entomology and the transmission 

 of disease by insects to human beings, when we know so little 

 about the conditions of the insect world when Noah landed on 

 Mt. Ararat. About 300,000 insects have been described and 

 the number of existing species has been estimated as high as 

 10,000,000. The questions we-would propound are the follow- 

 ing, and we trust they will be answered before less important 

 matters are considered : How many species of insects existed 

 at the time of the Flood ? How did Noah catch a pair of each 

 species? This question involves most important matters in 

 regard to modern entomological technic. We can understand 

 how the phytophagous insects were nourished, but if we knew 

 how the vast army of parasites was treated it would be of 

 value to the students of life-histories of to-day. Unfortunately 

 the insects were kept alive ; had they been dead, Noah's prac- 

 tice would have shed light on up-to-date museum methods. 

 These studies have been greatly neglected and their import- 

 ance grossly underestimated, and we can only hope that the 

 Entomological Society of America will take up the matter at 

 its next meeting and appoint a strong committee to look into 

 the problem.* 



* Aquatic insects are not important in this connection and need not be seriously con- 

 sidered. 



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