THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 17.] SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1856. [Price 1 d. 
WHY SHOULD SO MANY OF OUR 
OBSERVATIONS BE USELESS? 
(From a Correspondent). 
In a recent number you advise entomo- 
logists to concentrate their attention on 
some small division of the insect world; 
and I quite agree in your opinion : but 
like most things in the world the subject 
has two sides, and perhaps you would not 
object to a few words on the other side of 
the question. The subject is identical 
with the one, so often discussed, of the 
comparative value of general information 
and accurate knowledge of some particu- 
lar branch of study, — the danger on the 
one side being the tendency to become 
superficial and to be satisfied therewith, 
aud on the other to over-estimate the 
object of pursuit and to miss much that 
might be acquired at the same time ; 
and I think the giving the principal 
attention to a particular subject is by no 
means inconsistent with the eager em- 
brace of every correlative advantage. If 
we could suppose any one thoroughly up 
to the present state of knowledge in all 
branches of entomology the amount of 
information he would obtain in a day’s 
collecting would equal that of two or 
three ordinary collectors, and a certain 
measure of this knowledge is desirable 
for all. The drawback is that no man 
can know every thing, and consequently 
that only in a small sphere is he fitted to 
make useful and accurate observation, 
while in what lies beyond this he needs 
the assistance of others who have paid 
their principal attention to those portions 
of the subject. What is desirable, there- 
fore, seems to be such an amount of 
general information as will render his 
observations of the greatest possible value 
to himself and to others. Every one, 
whatever be his aim in collecting or his 
mode of doing so, has constantly brought 
before him other objects and other infor- 
mation than that which he is looking for, 
and if he could, without losing or neg- 
lecting his main object, select from what 
is thus brought before him whatever is 
valuable or new, how much would he 
add to our knowledge ! 
With regard to one, and that the most 
important branch of study, that namely 
of the larvae, a new difficulty presents 
itself and another solution comes along 
with it, the difficulty being that of rear- 
ing larvae, and the solution the sending 
the larvae to another person. Who that 
has collected the larvae of Lepidoptera 
has not met with, and even looked for as 
truly as if that were the object of his 
search, the larvae of other orders: a leaf 
is found mined — what by? another and 
another — till at last a Dipterous larva 
makes its appearance and is greeted with 
an exclamation of impatience or disap- 
pointment and thrown away; whereas 
