THE ENTOMOLOGISTS 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 182 a.] SATURDAY, MARCH 81, 18C0. [Price Id 
GOING. 
At last we have “ a bid for the bugs.” 
Our columns last week contained the 
welcome announcement that a Cata- 
logue of British Hemiptera is forth- 
coming. 
The labours of our young friend 
Anton Dohrn, who has compiled a 
Catalogue of the Hemiptera of the 
globe, have smoothed the way for 
Catalogues of the Hemiptera of indi- 
vidual portions of the globe. 
“Give me whereon to stand” is the 
cry of many a naturalist, as well as of 
Archimedes; the Hemipterist has now 
rvliereon to stand, and the British 
Hemipterist has only to fence round 
and enclose the ground which sup- 
ports him. If the land be once en- 
closed cultivation will soon follow. 
Many spend their lives debating whe- 
ther to enclose or to cultivate first, 
and in the mean time do nothing. 
The names appended to the an- 
nouncement last week are a sufficient 
guarantee that a do-nothing policy will 
not be pursued in this instance. And 
we entertain little doubt that a few 
short weeks will enable us to announce 
that a certain amount of progress has 
already been made in the forthcoming 
Catalogue of the Half-wings. Perhaps 
before we conclude our next volume 
the Catalogue will be complete. 
There will soon be a keen contest 
’twixt the bugs and the beetles, and 
if Mr. Waterhouse do not make haste 
the Hemipterous Catalogue will be 
complete before we have the entire 
Catalogue of British Coleoptera. As 
the interest of the race will, in point 
of fact, centre in those who bring up 
the rear, we presume there will be a 
sort of honourable rivalry between the 
Coccinellce and the Aphides, which 
shall pass the winning-post first; those 
of an imaginative turn of mind can 
easily picture to themselves a scene 
both grotesque and amusing. 
Pour years have now nearly elapsed 
since we first propounded the question, 
“Who bids for the bugs?” and though 
there have been a few nibbles since 
then, no one till now has really taken 
the bait, by swallowing the tasty mor- 
sel we had thrown out to them. Now 
it does indeed seem that the bugs are 
going, and we trust we shall ere long 
be able to inform our readers that they 
are gone! 
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