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The Scientific Aspects of Entomology. 



By J. W. TuTT, F.E.S. Read October i2,th, 1898. 



In bringing forward for discussion such a subject as that conveyed 

 by the title of this paper, one recognises that many details connected 

 with the points one must necessarily touch upon will present them- 

 selves under various aspects to different individuals. At the same 

 time one may safely assume that among a body of men all deeply 

 interested in the study of entomology, or kindred subjects, there will 

 be no great difference of opinion as to broad principles ; and here 

 one may notice that, whatever one has to say about entomology must 

 necessarily present a broad collateral parallelism with botany, con- 

 chology, and other studies that have their origin in field rather than 

 in laboratory work, so that any remarks made about the one subject 

 will largely find an echo in the sister sciences, and any broad principles 

 touched upoii will probably be found as applicable to them as to the 

 particular subject under consideration. 



Science comprises the knowledge of facts, the classification of facts, 

 and the deduction of principles from the facts thus classified. The 

 pursuit of insects, the thousand and one details of work done by 

 entomologists in the field, is but the alphabet of their study ; it does 

 not constitute science. It is only when a man classifies the facts 

 thus obtained from his practical experience, and is able to deduce 

 generaHsations from the details that he has observed, that his work 

 becomes scientific, and that his results may be called science. The 

 observations of the field naturalist, and the careful description of 

 species, are the groundwork on which the science of entomology is 

 built, but they are not the superstructure itself, and should not be 

 mistaken for it. The formation of this foundation is an absolutely 

 necessary and useful work, and the individuals who engage in it are 

 doing a very useful service ; but to the science of entomology, to the 

 solution of the problems of animal life and its origin, it bears just 

 about the same relationship that the organ-blower bears to the music, 

 compared with the musician who plays the instrument. 



If a man will take some small group of insects containing but few 

 recognised species, study them in detail ab ovo, compare them one 

 with another, and deduce bona fide conclusions from his observations 

 — that man is scientific. If he will take a larger group of insects and 

 study some one structure in detail, and deduce some general conclu- 

 sions from his observations — that man is scientific. If he will collect 

 a small group of insects over the whole range of their geographical 

 distribution, point out to us why each individual species is confined 

 within certain limits, why their localities are isolated and consist of 

 small tracts of a few hundred square yards, scattered here and 



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