28 Bulletin oj the Brooklyn Entomological Society Vol. vili 



Editorial. 



The collectors of insects in the United States during the 

 past twenty years number high into the tens of thousands. 

 Ninety-five per cent, of them date the beginning of their interest 

 from the admiration of a butterfly, and from this have progressed 

 to the observation of color differences of many butterflies and 

 moths. The primary motive is getting together pretty things. 

 Two-thirds, however, of beginners never progress beyond this 

 stage. Of the few who keep on passing to other insects ninety- 

 five per cent, become interested in the limitless range of color, 

 size and form of the race of beetles. Beyond this not one in a 

 hundred proceeds. 



In almost every sizeable town in the land there is at least 

 one person who has pinned and kept some sort of insect collec- 

 tion until neglect or dermestids dispose of it. In the aggregate 

 such collections have been of vast value, for the comprehensive 

 student can get from each of them a general grasp on the faiuia 

 of that particiilar region, which would otherwise take a season 

 of careful search, and has gotten, also, thousands of additions 

 to the taxonomic catalogue. Heaven bless the patient country 

 collector, even though he (or she) knows little about the subject, 

 especially if he dates and otherwise defines what he has. 



On the other hand, a collector of specimens is not neces- 

 sarily an observor of nature. It is the rule, not the exception, 

 that the collector of a box of beetles divides them by name, or, 

 more simply, if he cannot get names, by color, and can tell almost 

 nothing about the life cycle, habits or food of a single one. He 

 js no more a scientist than the collector of cancelled revenue 

 stamps, post marks or cigarette pictures. His results are of the 

 minimum value to the world. 



"Any addition to the sum total of hiiman knowledge, however 

 slight, is the greatest achievement open to a scholar," said 

 Professor E. P. Morris, of Yale University. Who is to be the 

 judge of its importance? No one has such right. An addition 

 to hiiman knowledge! It is the prize, the aim, the result to be 

 proud of. No one has the right to belittle it because of its fail- 

 ure to be of any economic value whatever. Twenty thousand 

 insects are enumerated in the catalogues and dismissed summarily 



