54 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



which has recently been discussed by Mr. Oockerell, Mr. Tryon, Mr. Lounsberry and 

 myself, each presenting some new phase of its habits in various parts of the world. But 

 one of my contributions related to a parasitic foe, described by Dr. Howard and reared 

 by myself from the Coccid just mentioned, on trees recently imported from Japan, and 

 also by Professor Marchal in Paris, Mr. E. E Green in Ce\lon, the late Mr. "W. M. 

 Maskell from Coccids received by him from Sydney, New South Wales, and at the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, from an Aspidiotus from Georgia. Here we have 

 fragments of our imaginary vase gathered from all quarters of the globe, not only fit- 

 ting into the Diaspis fragment, but into others as widely separated as well. But suppose 

 each one had kept his fragment to himself until such time as he could secure sufficient 

 material for an exhaustive paper ; how long would each have stood in the way of the 

 other in attempting to make use of his information 1 " Rushing into print " is not to 

 be commended, but a collector owes it to his fellows, and to entomology in general, to 

 collect carefully and make all possible observations in connection with his material, 

 placing the former on record for the benefit of his colleagues. The value of such work 

 as is being done by Messrs. Harrington, Kilman, Bean, Fletcher, Lyman, Fyles and other 

 Canadian entomologists, is not to be measured by our present knowledge, nor are the 

 facts gained by these gentlemen to be taken separately, for, individually, they may be 

 nearly or quite worthless and yet contain the very missing link that some other worker 

 is hunting for, and through the lack of which he is unable to proceed in the solution of 

 his own problem. Isolated from his fellows, working for the love of nature with little 

 or no encouragement from those about him, it is not to be wondered at that a collector 

 should think only of himself and his individual pleasure, becoming satisfied with dried 

 corpses pinned in his cabinet and caring nought for the habits of these forms of life when 

 active. But there is a world of riches at the door of every collector, isolation fre- 

 quently becoming a blessing in disguise, for if he will but keep his eyes open and tell 

 the world what he sees, he will ere long be surprised at the wealth of facts that he will 

 accumulate. 



The unknown in entomology may be likened to an ocean whose shores are lost in 

 infinity, while the known is as a mill pond. There is so much to observe, so much to 

 learn and life is so short. The collector, more than any one else, has opportunities for 

 observation such as, if made with care and accurately recorded, may outweigh volumes of 

 compilations that are too frequently permeated by the opinions of men, while original 

 observations come direct from the hand of the Creator. 



In conclusion^ then, if there is any kind word of encouragement or of admonition 

 that I can offer to the collector, whether he be located in city or country, let me do so 

 here. Gather up these fragments of which I have been telling you, as you would grains 

 of gold from among the sands, for sooner or later there will be a mint open for their 

 reception and you will be surprised at their value. You will be more than once aston- 

 ished to find that what you took for a worthless, fragmentary observation, will really 

 turn out to be the keystone of an arch which has long been unfinished for lack of your 

 fragment. 



ENTOMOLOGY IN SCHOOLS. 



By Wm. Lochhead, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph. 



The Annual Reports of this Society for 1896 and 1897 contain several very sug- 

 gestive papers relating to the study of insects in our schools. Ex-President Dearness 

 dealt somewhat fully with the subject in his two Presidential addresses, and the late 

 Professor Panton outlined a method of presenting the subject from an economic stand- 

 point. These three addresses, I remember, gave rise to a discussion among the members 

 present on those occasions, and showed plainly that the time was ripe for introduction of 

 nature-study into our schools. The members were unanimous in the opinion that insect 

 life should form a portion of the children's study, at least, in our rural schools. 



