THE 
WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
“ ENTOMA auiDQUID AGTJNT NOSTRI EST FARRAGO LIBELLI.” 
No - 3 -] SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1862. [Price 2d. 
WANTED, ENTOMOLOGISTS ! 
W people doubt whether 
an increase in the ranks of 
collectors is wanted for Entomology. 
Indeed some think that the number 
now engaged in the pursuit is too 
large. They say that by working in 
so great masses, Entomologists attain 
the result, not of gaining a complete 
history of insects, but of extermina- 
ting species. Doubtless there is much 
truth in this statement, but not, we 
think, the whole truth. If applied 
to the past, it is certainly true to a 
certain extent, — if applied to the 
future, the rising generation of Ento- 
mologists may prove it to be wholly 
false. We presume that no one 
would argue that the. number of 
students of the science is sufficient, 
without any augmentation, to com- 
plete the now imperfect knowledge of 
insect life. If this be the fact, O En- 
tomology ! thy golden days are come. 
No longer a band despised on account 
of the barrenness of their labour, thy 
devotees need point mysteriously to 
the future and look forward to results 
not seen now, but which thpy hope 
may come. Now the results are 
patent to all, and, triumphantly 
pointing to them, they may tell the 
world that their labour is accom- 
plished, and their highest expecta- 
tions realised. 
Put such is [unfortunately?] not 
the case. Viewing the subject in this 
light alone, we say unhesitatingly, 
Wanted Entomologists. If then it 
is a fact that there are not now enough 
students to do as much for science as 
we could wish, and yet the number 
of insects is not sufficient to justify 
any increase in their ranks, there is 
evidently a mistake somewhere. Is 
it nature who has made it, or Entom- 
ologists ? 
If Nature has made it, it is a 
strange one for her to make. She has 
given man a task, — to explore the 
secrets of insect life, and, as far as 
this country is concerned at any rate, 
has made instruments disproportionate 
to their object. Can this be so ? Must 
it be said, “ The machinery will not 
bear the strain put on it, and yet 
that strain is not great enough to 
produce the desired effect?” Surely 
not. Then the mistake lies with En- 
tomologists. 
If the mistake lies in this quarter 
we can only suppose it to be, that 
