12 



ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the Entomological Chib : 



For the honour which you were pleased to confer upon me, at your last meetings 

 when I was unable to be with you, in calling me to preside over you, I am fully appre- 

 ciatire, and would return my grateful acknowledgments. While I well know that there 

 are several among you who far better deserved the honour of succeeding to the chair 

 vacated by my illustrious predecessor, yet I would interpret your selection as a tribute to 

 my devotion to our loved science, and to my earnest desire to aid in its progress to the ex- 

 . tent of my humble ability. 



On these annual gatherings, marking the lapse of a period signalized by progress 

 equalling, even surpassing that of a decade but a few years ago, it would seem fitting and 

 proper that a comprehensive view of that progress should be given. But this has been 

 so ably done br one of our number, and you have had it presented in the pages of Psyche, 

 that whatever I might say in this direction, would be but repetition. 



Permit me then, instead, to refer to some evidence of progress in American Entomo- 

 logy, shown within the recollection of several of us here present. Going back forty 

 years, very little was known of our abundant insect fauna, except of the Coleoptera, an 

 order which enjoyed the good fortune of being an attractive one, easy to collect in and 

 prepare for the cabinet, and which early enlisted in its study earnest students, who have 

 since lent honoured names to the annals of American science. Thus, in 1835, in Harris' List 

 of the Insects of Massachusetts, the names of 994 Coleoptera are given, and but 140 

 Lepidoptera. Of the latter, 34 are butterflies, four of which are erroneously referred to 

 European species : among these only three species of Hesperidse are mentioned. Seven- 

 teen species of Noctuidae are recorded, with the additional note of "96 unnamed species.'^ 

 There are also the names of 7 Geometers, 1 Pyralid, 1 Tortrix and 6 Tineids. How great 

 an advance upon this in our knowledge of forms is shown in the Crotch Check List of 

 7,450 species of Coleoptera, in the Grote Check List of 1,132 species of Noctuids (already 

 quite incomplete from the species subsequently made known), and in the Edwards' Cata- 

 logue of 506 species of Butterflies (110 of which are Hesperidae). I often recall, as I 

 am reminded of past progress, a request of Dr. Fitch, soon after the commencement of 

 his Reports, for my careful attention to the Catocalas, for the authorities of the British 

 Museum were, he thought unnecessarily, multiplying species. He did not believe that 

 we really had over a half dozen species. To-day we number over 90 accepted species. 



At the time to which I have referred, very few — perhaps not over a score (my 

 limited knowledge of the Coleoptera must be my excuse if I err) — of the histories of our 

 insects were known ; now, we may count by the hundred those of which we know the 

 transformations and the life histories more or less complete. Some of these, thanks to 

 the labours of Edwards, Riley, Scudder, Walsh, and others, have been charmingly wrought 

 out, and are honourable contributions to science. 



The list of working Entomologists is rapidly enlarging, and with the consequent 

 diffusion of a knowledge of their purposes and their results, we have reason to believe 

 that the day is not far distant when the opprobious prefix of " crazy " will not invariably 

 be associated with " bug-hunter." In the last edition of the Naturalists' Directory, the 

 names of 281 persons are recorded who are making Entomology their study in North 

 America. It is probable that a full list would be increased by at least 25 per cent, extend- 

 ing the number to 350. 



With so large a number of working Entomologists, we would be justified in expect- 

 ing larger annual contributions to our literature. It would seem to me but a moderate 

 estimate that one-third of the number should possess the ability of making such careful 

 observations and of collating them in such a form that they would prove acceptable and 

 ^ valuable contributions to our knowledge. While we know so little of the transforma- 

 tions of our species, the habits of their larvae, and imagines, their geographical distribu- 

 tion — in short, the numerous details entering into and composing their life histories, there 

 is scarcely a new fact relating to these particulars which is not worthy of being placed on 

 record in the pages of our Entomological journals, which will gladly give them place. It 

 has been stated that there are but about thirty Entomologists in the United States and 



