DEPARTMENT " OF INSECTS. 1 83 



provided for as to induce describers of new species to add to it their 

 types or authentic duplicates thereof. It will be many years ere such 

 an ideal collection can be gotten together, and none now living may 

 witness it, but the material now on hand forms a good foundation for it. 



The exhibit collection should be something entirely independent and 

 apart from the other, and, on account of the rapid deterioration of in- 

 sect specimens constantly on exhibition and necessarily much exposed 

 to light, should consist, as far as possible, of duplicates only, or of such 

 commoner species as can be easily replaced. Intended for the instruc- 

 tion and edification of the lay visitor to the Museum, it should illus- 

 trate in the boldest possible way the salient characters of the class, the 

 larger classifactory divisions and the structures on which they are 

 based, the wonderful metamorphoses and economies of the commoner 

 and easily recognized species and particularly in their relations to man 

 either directly or indirectly through injury or benefit. 



The value of such an exhibit collection depends very much on con- 

 spicuity, and this can best be obtained by the liberal use of diagrams 

 and enlarged drawings, as the majority of the most interesting species 

 and those which most concern men are almost microscopic in size. 

 Such an exhibit collection will miss its mark and object whenever it ex- 

 ceeds these limits, and by too much detail seeks to interest and instruct 

 the specialist or in other ways trenches on the function of the study 

 collection. As the Museum, in this department, will, in accordance 

 with statute (Revised Statutes, sec. 5586), receive a great deal of its best 

 material through the Department of Agriculture, one of the chief aims 

 of this national collection should be to reciprocate, not only by preserv- 

 ing all systematic material and thus aiding said Department of Agri- 

 culture in necessary determinations, but by giving particular attention 

 to the biological side of the collection. This I have endeavored to do, 

 and the collections illustrating the biology of North American insects 

 are probably the largest in the world. 



The character of the drawers and cabinets employed in such a national 

 collection is important ; for upon it the future preservation of specimens 

 very greatly depends. Knowing it to be Professor Goode's desire to 

 adapt, as far as possible, the drawers used in all departments to the 

 unit size which he has adopted for the Museum, some effort was made 

 in this direction, but the adaptation, while possible for the exhibit col- 

 lection, was found impracticable, or at least very undesirable, for the 

 study collection. Hence, after carefully studying, in person, the differ- 

 ent forms and patterns used for entomological collections both in this 

 country and Europe, as well as by private individuals and public in- 

 stitutions, we have adopted a drawer and cabinet essentially after the 

 pattern of those used in the British (South Kensington) Museum, best 

 adapted in size to our own requirements or conception. The drawers are 

 square, with an outside measurement of 18 inches and an outside depth 

 of 3 inches. The sides and back have a thickness of three-eighths of an 



