52 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Bat this is one extreme and one that is fast being eliminated, all specialists of repute now 

 giving full credit to the collector for material placed at their disposal, and frequently 

 this is done at the request of the specialist himself. It seems to me that this is one of 

 the most encouraging evidences of progress in entomological research, as the collector 

 soon finds that with credit there, invariably, goes more or less responsibility, and we 

 therefore get better and more careful collecting, while the specialist or systematist is 

 placed in possession of better material and more elaborate data, and is thus better enabled 

 to avoid mistakes and synonyms. But we must not lose sight of the fact that this 

 material and data must be supplied by the collector, who may be so situated that he is 

 not able to work up his material properly, while the systematist is often equally unable 

 to secure these by his own efforts ; and we thus have a division of labor, which, if faith- 

 fully carried out by both parties, can only result in much good, and material progress in 

 our beloved science. 



For my own part, I have come to look upon the labors of the careful collector, as 

 having much the same relation to the science of entomology, as those of Livingstone and 

 Stanley have to the advance of civilization in Southern Africa. These latter gentlemen 

 did not fell trees and plow and sow, but they paved the way for these, and made civiliza- 

 tion possible. The collector is the advance discoverer, who must be followed by the sys- 

 tematist before the biologist can commence his labors. We first must get our species, and 

 then so define it as to prevent its being continually confused with other forms, else we 

 cannot study either its own life or its relation to other species. In the history of the 

 advance of civilization we have, first, the discoverer, next, the pioneer agriculturist with 

 his log cabin, followed by cities and schools and churches and railways, all the accompani- 

 ments of civilized life, but all preceded by the one who first made his way through the 

 trackless wastes and told of what he saw. 



Now, about the collector and his work. He who cares nothing for habits, variations 

 and geographical distribution, will accomplish the least for the advancement of the 

 science, though, as has been stated, industry and push are neither one to be despised, and 

 it is better to know that certain species are to be found in Canada, California or Texas, 

 than not to know of their existence at all. It would be much more satisfactory to know 

 just where in these areas the species were found, as all extend over a wide area and great 

 variety of country. But just here let me call attention to a serious defect, and one that 

 does not seem to be confined to the careless or inexperienced, viz , givinsr as localities of 

 occurrence, isolated points, having local names which are unknown a few miles away, and 

 are not to be found indicated on any of our maps. Such give no clue whatever to the 

 one who is engaged in tracing out the geographical distribution of a species, as I have 

 myself experienced after hours of fruitless search, finally giving up in despair. In all 

 cases it is better to give exact localities with reference to their proximity tn some point 

 which is indicated on our maps ; the approximate latitude and longitude will be the most 

 stable and valuable of all, as the information can be used in any country and by the aid 

 of very ordinary maps and charts. To those who object to taking the trouble to do this, 

 let me suggest that other entomologists will there take up our work after we have followed 

 Harris, Fitch, Riley, and more recently, L;ntner and Maskell, on that long journey" from 

 which none return. We cannot, now, see what problems those who are to follow us 

 may have to solve, nor can we determine the nature of the data that will be required 

 for such solutions. Then, too, the foreign entomologist has frequently to turn to us 

 for information regarding the distribution of both specie3 and genera, and it is but justice 

 to our fellows if we present our data in a manner that will be most intelligible to them. 

 Some very good collectors, and not all of them American either, have overlooked this 

 matter, and as a consequence we are sometimes left in the dark where we most needed 

 light, and our colleagues really intended to supply it to us. 



Altitude will not come amiss when you go over your notes, possibly twenty years 

 hence, while food plants, food habits, relative abundance, and, indeed, almost any facts 

 relative to the " sociology " of a species will be sure to be of use sometime, for someone. 

 I am continually using data secured ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago, some of it at the 

 time seeming to be hardly worth recording, but it is surprising how many good things 



