THE 
WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST, 
“ ENTOMA QUEDQUID AGTJNT NOST1U EST FARRAGO LIBELLI.” 
No. 8.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1862. [Price 2d. 
SOCIETIES. 
once asked us some questions 
about the Entomological Societies of 
Great Britain. First, — How many 
are there ? To this we had to answer 
“ We do not know.” Can any one 
inform us ? 
Taking the number of Entomolo- 
gists named in the “Annual” for 
1860, as a guide, and dividing it by 
the average number of members in a 
Society, should we get anything like 
an approximation to the number of 
Societies ? Or, — in other words, — 
should we find, generally, that Ento- 
mologists are members of Societies ? 
We fear not. Many are, no doubt, 
prevented by ‘ circumstances over 
which they have no control,’ but 
still we cannot help thinking that 
* Where there’s a will there’s a way.’ 
We should suppose that it would be 
likely to have a good effect if Mr. 
Stainton were to add a list of Societies 
to that of Entomologists in the forth- 
coming volume of the ‘ Entomologists’ 
Annual.’ 
The second question which our 
correspondent put to us, was, “Might 
not Entomological Societies confer 
greater practical benefit on science 
than they do r” Of course the 
answer to this was easily found. — Em- 
phatically, “ Yes.” 
How do not let anyone, on reading 
this assertion, indignantly accuse us 
of falling foul of the Societies of 
Great Britain. We do nothing of 
the sort. We believe that very 
much is done by them that never 
could be done otherwise, and that 
the progress of Entomology during 
the last four or five years is largely 
owing to them. But we cannot say 
that they have achieved all that it was 
possible for them to achieve. How 
many associations must there be 
whose very existence is unknown to 
the world at large! We must 
suppose that there are such, for if we 
take it for granted that a Society 
cannot be constituted without the 
fact being known, we must also take 
it for granted that the total number 
is very small indeed. Some students of 
science allege, as a reason for hiding 
their light under a bushel, that they 
are troubled with modesty, but 
however excusable this quality may 
be in an individual, it ought not to 
characterize a Society. The latter 
