June, 1917 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 65 



the sun around the earth.. After long reflection he replied that 

 he had never given the matter any thought, for it seemed to be 

 of no importance and certainly of no consequence to him. It 

 was of no consequence to the writer of Genesis I, but does his 

 narrative sufter? 



As a next step the waters brought forth living creatures, first 

 fowls, then whales, and every living creature in the waters. 

 Then followed all the creatures of the land, cattle, creeping thing, 

 beast of the earth, and finally man. There is no profit in com- 

 paring this sequence with present notions; merely regrettable 

 that commentators of fifteen centuries have wasted efforts co 

 distort facts to fit literal construction of allegory given with the 

 utmost poetic license. 



Genesis II : 2 relates that Adam in a day reviewed every living 

 creature in Eden and gave to each its name. Ninety years ago 

 the Linnean Society of London was engaged in an effort to 

 identify a few species of the genus Apion, of which Herbst's de- 

 scriptions were not clear, and of which actual specimens could 

 not satisfactorily be laid out so as to differentiate into species. 

 Rev. William Kirby was at this time leading spirit in the Lin- 

 nean Society and a vigorous polemical preacher. He argued from 

 the pulpit that the circumstance proved the immensity of the fall 

 of man from Eden, since Adam had mentality to name every in- 

 sect in a day, while the Linneans struggled for months over a 

 few beetles. The number of insect species in existence, esti- 

 mated by Ray in 1698 at 20,000, was surely estimated in Kirby 's 

 day as multiplied by a hundred at least. Here again the pitiful 

 results of distorting fact to fit allegory. Every creature received 

 a name from the first man who tried to tell another about it. 

 Every minute insect must have a name if it is to be made a sub- 

 ject of comment. 



Genesis VIII describes the Flood, which was certainly a vast 

 one, as it is described in the literature of almost all eastern coun- 

 tries. The Biblical account is very explicit indeed, how Noah, 

 ninth generation from Adam, constructed an ark, saved his fam- 

 ily and all kinds of living creatures, some in pairs, others in 

 sevens. The waters prevailed upon the earth 150 days. The 

 ark measured exactly 300 by 50 by 30 cubits. In the first place 



