THE SUBSTITUTE; 
Or, Entomological Exchange Facilitator, and 
Entomologist’s Fire-side Companion. 
No. I.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1850. [Price 2f/. 
THE SUBSTITUTE. 
“'1'he Substitute for what?” So 
asks some reader of our title who 
has lint seen ‘ The Entomologist’s 
Weekly Intelligencer,’ in which 
our advent was announced. We 
may be wrong — we hope we are ; 
there may not be one entomolo- 
gist that is not aware of the fact 
that we are appointed the locum 
tcuens of the ‘ Intelligencer’ until 
that luminary shall again appear 
on the horizon. The light our 
predecessor shed was, jierhaps, 
small and flickering, as became 
so modest a satellite ; still it was 
light, and our endeavour will be 
to keep up the glow while that 
little star is out of sight. This 
IS onr aim and object ; but the 
path we have to tread is, by the 
force of circumstances, not exactly 
the same. We shall not have to 
record captures during the winter, 
or at least only in a very moderate 
degree. Now and then we hope 
some pupa-digger or moss-hunter 
will give us the results of his 
experience, and occasionally we 
trust that others, when looking 
over the captures of the summer, 
may iind some gem that they 
overlooked or were unable to de- 
termine, at the time of capture, 
and tell us all about it. We wish 
to have more than this. Almost 
every collector has, during the 
summer, taken specimens of in- 
sects which he does not rei|uire 
for his collection, and which he 
would be glad to give away to any 
one that wanted them. JIany, 
perhaps all of them, are com- 
mo’i, either generally or locally, 
no matter; there are alwaysyoung 
collectors to whom such ihiugs are 
prizes, and the gift of duplicates 
may be the means of establishing 
them as collectors for life. We 
say gift advisedly ; for although 
every one should make whatever 
return he can for specimens sent, 
yet the proper spirit is not to ex- 
pect any return at all. We are 
sure that, in the long run, those 
who give the most liberally receive 
the most, often from sources the 
least thought of. We hate the 
quid pro quo system, although it 
would be well, as has been ob- 
served to us, if at times collectors 
would remember when they ex- 
pect a rarity, and have something 
which they might send, to do so. 
From the old collectors we should 
like to see lists of insects for dis- 
tribution, specimens that they 
have had by them perhaps for 
years, simply for want of knowing 
what to do with them. There 
must be many in this jiosition ; 
and we take it that it would be a 
real relief to get rid of what is to 
them so much lumber, and yet to 
others of priceless value. Well, 
all that collectors, whr 'her givers 
or receivers, have to do, is to send 
us their lists ; we will ])rini them 
and distribute them : the trouble 
B 
