Mr. Otto Meshes Collection of Lepidoptera. By Mr. 



J. A. LlNTNER. 



[Head before the Albany Institute, Oct. 20, 1874.] 



I take pleasure in bearing testimony to the truth of the 

 commendation given to the collection of Mr. Meske in the 

 circular call for our meeting this evening, for, while there 

 are several larger collections iu our country, I am quite 

 sure that there is not one which surpasses it " in the perfec- 

 tion of its specimens, beauty of preparation, and systematic 

 arrangement." 



The collection consists only of Lepidoptera (comprising 

 the butterflies and moths), perhaps the most interesting of 

 the seven orders in which insects are divided. While a 

 general study of the several orders may be more agreeable 

 to the student, and of greater practical value, yet it is only 

 by a concentration of labor in a smaller field, that real 

 progress can be made, and science best advanced. Our 

 several state entomologists are expected to embrace the 

 entire insect world in their study of injuries inflicted or 

 benefits received, yet for the determination of the various 

 species which come within their notice, they are frequently 

 compelled to apply for aid to the specialist — to Hagen in 

 the Neuroptera, to Scudder in Orthoptera, Le Conte in 

 Coleoptera, Cresson in Hymenoptera, Osten-Sacken in 

 Diptera, and to Edwards, Scudder and Grote in the Lepid- 

 optera. Even a single order may prove too extensive for 

 its proper study, and its division is required, as when 

 Edwards, the author of Butterflies of North America, 

 excluding the moths which compose much the larger por- 

 tion of the order of Lepidoptera, finds himself wholly un- 

 able, in his admirable delineations, to keep pace with the 



