284 Trans. Acad. Sct. of St. Louis 
Sometimes insects sent by me for identification have 
been retained and identified for the persons who retained 
them, and it is often an accident that I find out the names. 
A chalcid was identified for me as Leucospis distinguen- 
dus and afterwards described as L. robertsont. A syrphid 
identified as Microdon coarctatus was afterwards de- 
scribed as M. viridis. The same specimen of Notiphila 
was identified for me by three different dipterologists as 
Dichaeta brevicauda, Notiphila carinata and N. bicolor. 
One of these defended this practice because the correct 
name had not been assigned. But that would not be fol- 
lowed by any one who distinguished what he knew from 
what he was guessing at. 
The best way to get species identified is to describe 
them yourself. One who will give you no aid in determin- 
ing them will go 1000 miles to suppress them as synonyms. 
Some author will describe species as if they differed 
only in size and color and deposit the types in a distant 
museum. You are not expected to read his descriptions 
but must examine the types to see what he described. 
His descriptions are ignored for many years. The spe- 
cies are described under other names, which become as- 
sociated with an extensive literature. Finally the types 
are examined and familiar names are upset. The only 
competent thing is for the systematists to clear up the old 
names at first. 
My experience is that the best time to get species iden- 
tified is when an author is working on the group, when he 
is competent to determine species or compare types. It 
is hard to strike authors at that time. I have had proba 
ble new species of Cerceridae lying in my collection while 
three authors, one after the other, were working on them. 
About the time you desire to send cercerids to one of 
these, he is working on may-flies or spiders, like a flit- 
