Sharp : Value of the Study of Entomology. 181 



woods and moors, surrounded by the solitude of nature ; that every 

 half-holiday or leisure day be devoted to the investigation of some 

 special district, or the capture of some local insect, even although all 

 his labour and trouble only result in a few cabinet drawers of dry and 

 and fragile insect forms — if useless to the world at large, at least 

 capable of reproducing in the mind of the collector the memory of 

 many a pleasant expedition, the triumph of many a long search 

 crowned at last with deserved success, or the fears and hopes which 

 attended the mixture of many a brood of rare and delicate larvoe. 



It would be almost beside the point to siieculate on the amount of 

 evil such an occupation might save a man from ; that would depend 

 more on the character of the man himself than on any special virtue 

 of entomology. 



It might also be considered scarcely pertinent to the enquiry to 

 claim as one value of the study of entomology, that it fostered in any 

 degree the mechanical aptitude of its followers, although such might 

 be the case ; to say that it improved a man's power of discrimination, 

 quickened his keenness of perception, inculcated very strongly the 

 value of patience, the evils of a too impetuous or too easily discouraged 

 temperament ; that a quick eye was required for the capture, and a 

 skilful hand for the manipulation of entomological specimens, and 

 that such virtues as temperance, frugality, and early rising were 

 thereby cherished : all this is true enough, but it is also true of a good 

 many other pursuits besides the study of insects, and we may rather 

 consider these qualities as the good effects arising from cultivating 

 any harmless hobby than the special results of any one in particular. 



We have now tried to consider the real value which is attached to 

 the study of entomology under several phases of that study. We 

 have seen that perhaps its highest character and nearest approach to 

 a science is when taken as investigation into one special group of 

 creation and diffusion ol the knovvledge so gained, but we have seen 

 that this study is also valuable merely regarded in its results on the 

 mind from the knowledge acquired by its pursuit, in fact to the cui bono 

 of the sceptic that the best answer of the entomologist would be sibi. 



Considering the study of insects in its character of collecting, we 

 have tried to show that in this it is not without its value, whether 

 such collections be regarded by themselves or as exemplifications of a 

 higher study of which they form the illustrations ; finally that even in 

 its lowest phase of mere amusement, entomology is too elevating a 

 pursuit to be ridiculed as puerile, and too useful to be disparaged as 

 waste of time ; that in fact this and societies like this have a good 



