Insects. 4739 



then follow directions for knowing which swarms are to be selected when purchasing, 

 and most likely to be profitable to their nourisher : next, " To store your Self with Wild 

 Bees, Take such as Breed in Clefts of Oaks, or other Trees, in Fields, Forrests or 

 Wildernesses, or in rocks, or Buins of Castles or Churches:" "To find them out, set 

 a little Box with a small hole in it, near the Water-side, whither you perceive the bees 

 to resort, and when many have entered, for the Sugar and Honey put therein, stop up 

 the hole, and let one out, follow him as far as you can see him, then let out another, 

 following him likewise, and so a Third, till by their flying directly (for so they will) to 

 the place of their abode, you find them out.'' Admirable ingenuity ! and so there were 

 honey-bees to be seen in clefts of trees, in rocks and ruins, in J. Smith's time (1704). 

 I never met with more than one swarm, in a wood near Barnet — doubtless one that 

 had escaped its " Nurisher.'' Our author proceeds : — " Having found them, smoak them 

 out, and settle them by the ringing of any Brass Vessel." It is to be regretted that no 

 directions are given for "making them by Art;" but here follows a list of "all which 

 are utter Enemies to the Bees" — the toad, redbreast, woodpeckers, moth, hornet, li- 

 zard, swallow, sparrow, spider, butterfly, serpent and stork. First and foremost, our 

 author places the toad ; and the list, it will be seen, includes the woodpecker, mentioned 

 as destructive to bees. In what manner some of the " utter enemies" are prejudi- 

 cial to the bee I am not prepared to say, nor does our author afford any information 

 on the subject: he emphatically denounces the whole host as " utter enemies.'' The 

 essay concludes with directions for taking the honey from the hives, and the manage- 

 ment of the swarms ; on this head one direction is admirable, and deserves to be quoted — 

 "If the Master-Bee, or King, be too apt to lead the swarm abroad, clip his wings, and 

 then, not daring to trust them, he will stay at home"! I cannot do better than con- 

 clude, in the words of the author, " And thus much shall suffice for the ordering of 

 Bees, from whose labour rises great Profit to most Kingdoms." — Frederick Smith ; 

 April 12, 1855. 



A Word on the Use of Initial Capitals to Specific Names. — We are agreed on using 

 initial capitals for genera, but we have no law as to initial capitals for species; for we 

 cannot certainly reckon as a law that draft of a bill which was sent down to us from 

 the Upper House, videlicet, the British Association, and which we, the Representatives 

 of the People, threw out, nemine contradicente. Now, having no law, every one does 

 exactly as he pleases ; and not only are no two entomologists consistent with each other, 

 but no one, as far as my knowledge extends, is consistent with himself. It is difficult 

 to believe or understand the trouble which this diversity of practice gives to an editor, 

 more especially should it so fall out that his contributor, having steadfast faith iu his 

 own critical sagacity, demands to see a proof; for then the said contributor, being in 

 absolute command of a ship that has no rudder, and purring complacently over the 

 unwonted authority he is enjoying, is sure to assume the printer to be in error, and in- 

 continently to alter every small letter to a capital, and every capital letter to a small one. 

 It is with a view to relieve entomologists of this critical labour that I suggest this 

 simple rule — As all specific names must be substantives or adjectives, let every substan- 

 tive (nominative or genitive), and no adjective, have an initial capital. One exception 

 only occurs to me, but exceptio constat regulam ; it is when a man's name is converted 

 into an adjective, as Metterbacheriana or Abildgaardana,— I don't much envy these 

 insects or their godfathers, — then the capitals must of course be preserved as signboards 

 to testify to future generations that it is mortal men have been thus immortalized ; 

 otherwise, the cui bono of these ponderous monuments of genius, like that of their 



