January 9, 1885. 



SCIENCE. 



25 



the sun was free from spots. I find that I observed 

 the sun, for the purpose of mapping its spots, Dec. 5, 

 at eight A m., Washington (Penn. ) local time, and it 

 seemed to be entirely clear. The instrument used 

 was a four-inch refractor. Thinking I might have 

 overlooked some small ones, I observed it again with 

 an eight-inch refractor at half-past one, power of a 

 hundred and fifty, and did not see any spots. The 

 contrast between the sun's face, Dec. 5, 1883, and 

 Nov. 5, 1883, is very marked. I find I mapped seven 

 groups on Nov. 5, 1883, one of them having eight 

 well-developed spots. D. J. McAdam. 



Washington, Penn., Dec. 19. 



On the care of entomological museums. 



The editorial comments on this subject in Science 

 for Dec. 19 are certainly very pertinent. For a long 

 time I have been at work on the micro-lepidoptera 

 of North America, until now I have by far the lar- 

 gest collection of the Pyralidae, Tineidae, and Ptero- 

 phoridae of this country, and a collection of the 

 Tortricidae of the world, fuller and more complete, 

 probably, than any other in existence. My work 

 has hitherto been, in a great measure, to get the in- 

 sects authentically named by a careful comparison 

 with the original types, in order that the collection, 

 already so large, should prove in some sense an 

 authoritative standard for comparison. This work 

 has, of course, given me an opportunity of observing 

 the condition of the types of North-American micro- 

 lepidoptera in the collections both of this country 

 and Europe, and the care which they have received. 



In some American museums the insects are looked 

 after by men who have to gain their livelihood in 

 some vocation remote from the museum. The au- 

 thorities of other museums have the impression 

 that they have made adequate provisions for the 

 preservation of their insect-collection when it is put 

 under the oversight of an assistant, although he may 

 have no knowledge whatever of such objects. It is 

 not surprising that so many types are represented in 

 these museums by a labelled pin only. 



One great trouble is, that many museum officials 

 have very little appreciation of the vast amount of 

 labor, care, skill, and knowledge required to bring 

 together, properly arrange, preserve, and make ac- 

 cessible to those who are competent, and desire to 

 study any one or more of the insects in it, a large and 

 varied collection. One director told me that it did not 

 seem profitable to pay a man two thousand dollars to 

 watch a thousand dollars' worth of insects ; and yet 

 he was not at liberty to dispose of them, so they must 

 go to destruction. 



At present I believe the museum at Cambridge is 

 the only one in this country which gives assurance 

 that a competent curator of entomology will always 

 be employed ; yet I think it is not provided with 

 means to purchase collections of insects. The Na- 

 tional museum has appointed an honorary curator; 

 but it might as well be without any as to have one 

 whose entire time is occupied elsewhere, for who 

 would think of donating valuable and perishable 

 types to a museum thus officered ! 



As matters now stand, it is better for those who 

 are able to dispose of their collections without a con- 

 sideration to allow them to go to the Museum of com- 

 parative zoology; but, if they are not able to give 

 them, they should go into the hands of private in- 

 dividuals who are working on that particular class 

 of insects. It is better for them to be sold to the 

 European museums, where they will be preserved, 



than for them to go to destruction in a museum of this 

 country. C. H. Fernald. 



State college, Orono, Me. 



Your remarks, p. 540, in regard to the preservation 

 of insect-collections are eminently proper and to the 

 point, with the exception of the closing assertion, 

 which is not justified. It is true that the curator- 

 ship of insects in the National museum is at present 

 honorary, and that there is no paid assistant; but it 

 is equally true, that, since my charge of that depart- 

 ment, all collections and every single specimen re- 

 ceived at the museum have been properly cared for; 

 so that where, up to three years ago, nothing of the 

 many valuable collections brought to the museum 

 remained, there is now the nucleus of a collection; 

 and so long as I am curator of the department, honor- 

 ary merely though the position may be, no material 

 shall go uncared for. Feeling that a beginning to- 

 ward a national collection had to be made, and that 

 the museum was the proper place for it, I have thus 

 far given my time to this object in the belief that 

 proper financial provision will be forthcoming for 

 such conduct of the department as will guarantee 

 both the preservation and the future care of collec- 

 tions. When such provision is made, my own private 

 collection, and others that I know of, will be donated 

 to the institution. Until then much valuable ento- 

 mological material will naturally be lost to the capital. 



C. V. Kiley. 



[We neither expressed nor intended any slur what- 

 ever upon the present honorary curator of the insect- 

 collections of the National museum. As any one can 

 see, our remarks applied to the perpetual care of 

 valuable collections. If they are not insured per- 

 petual care, the less of them that go there the better. 

 And so we repeat, that "the appointment of an hon- 

 orary curator is worse than useless. It only deceives 

 those who know no better, into the supposition that 

 collections sent to the museum are insured proper 

 care. They are not." We regret if the present hon- 

 orary curator feels hurt by this ' closing assertion;' 

 but it is the only logical outcome from our previous 

 remarks, which he characterizes 'eminently proper 

 and to the point.' — Ed.] 



THE CHEMICAL LABORATORY OF THE 

 JOHN'S HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. 



In 1876, the year in which the Johns Hop- 

 kins university was opened to students, a small 

 chemical laboratory was built. It was large 

 enough to accommodate about forty working- 

 students, and was well equipped with the neces- 

 saiy conveniences for chemical work, from the 

 most elementary to the most advanced. In 

 the course of a few years, temporaiy desks were 

 put up wherever an available corner could be 

 found, and finally it became evident that a 

 larger building must be erected. Accordingly, 

 the trustees voted to enlarge the old laboratory 

 so as to make room for a hundred students. 

 The work has recently been completed ; and, 



