^84 FORTT-FIRST REPORT ON THE STATE MuSEUM. 



tion of our insects by Thomas Say, the author of "American Entomology," the first 

 chapters of which were issued in 1817. 



Following these studies came scores of earnest and successful workers, who have 

 contributed in giving to our science the proud position that it now holds. The simple 

 enumeration of their names would be too long a list for the present occasion. Their 

 labors are held in grateful appreciation wherever natural history is cultivated, and 

 they are the acknowledged peers of any of their European* collaborators. 



Special Studies of Insect Orders. 



It is perhaps fortunate that the field of study presented to the entomological student 

 Is so broad, that if he would render the best service to the science— instead of frittering 

 his labor over the entire field, he is compelled to become a specialist and confine him- 

 self to a single group of ordinal or even family value. 



It is for this reason that the knowledge of our insects shows quite unequal develop- 

 ment in the several orders in which the class is divided. The two orders that are the 

 most advanced are the Coleoptera (beetles) and the Lepidoptera (butterfiies and moths). 

 Of these, the several families have been systematically worked and catalogued, and it 

 is possible for the student to name most of the specimens contained in his cabinet, by 

 the aid of synoptical tables which have been prepared ; while in the other five orders 

 (as most generally accepted), the original descriptions will have to be consulted when 

 accessible in their scattered and perplexing distribution throughout numerous scientific 

 journals; or the material for which name and classification is desired, must be sub- 

 mitted to specialists in the orders who have the disposition and the time to devote to 

 such usually unremunerative work. 



The Coleoptera, from the facility with which the collections are made and their 

 simple preparation for the cabinet, have received the most study. About ten thousand 

 of our species are known, described, and catalogued. A classification of them has been 

 recently given (in 1883) in a volume entitled, "Classification of the Coleoptera of North 

 America," by Drs. LeConte and Horn. Not only does this volume afford to the American 

 student the needed facility for his study, but so admirably does it embody and present 

 the fruits of the life-labor of one who was peculiarly fitted for the work — Dr. LeConte, 

 whose recent death we mourn — that the new system of classification and order of 

 sequence therein presented, marks so great an advance upon previous systems that it 

 can hardly fail of being accepted by the scientific world. 



The attractiveness of the butterflies and moths constituting the order of Lepidoptera, 

 as well as the economic importance of their larvfe in their dependence for a food-supply 

 so largely upon the crops which are deemed essential to our existence or comfort, have 

 long made them favorite objects of study. About five thousand species have been 

 described. 



The butterfiies have been carefully studied and largely illustrated in their several 

 stages. A volume given to the public the present year, prepared by Prof. French, of the 

 Southern Illinois Normal University, for the use of classes in zoology and private 

 students, under the title of "The Butterflies of the Eastern United States" (all that 

 region lying east of Nebraska, Kansas and Texas), enables the student, by the aid of 

 synoptic tables, simple descriptions and excellent figures, to identify almost any 

 butterfly pertaining to this Atlantic zoo-geographical province. Of the moths (all of the 

 Lepidoptera not butterfiies), several families, as the Sphmgidce, BomhyGidoii and Geome- 

 tridce, have been given good illustration, and all have been advanced through the 

 enthusiastic labors of special students. 



While striving to avoid irrelevant detail in this paper, it would not be proper, even in 

 so cursory a reference to scientific labor richly deserving many pages for its simple 

 record, to omit mention of the debt we owe, for a very respectable knowledge of our 

 Diptera (files, gnats, etc.), to Baron von Osten Sacken, for a long time a member of the 

 Eussian Legation at Washington, and to his friend Dr. Loew, of Prussia. And, as we 

 recall the "Synopsis of the Neuroptera of North America," and several other kindred 



