THE ENTOMOLOGIST'S 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 04.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1857. [Price 1 d. 
ANONYMOUS. 
In spite of our repeated declarations 
that “ no notice will be taken of ano- 
nymous communications,” such are con- 
tinually reaching us, and as we never 
read them further than to ascertain 
that they are anonymous, we do not 
see what purpose the writers have in 
sending them ; if it eases their minds 
to write these letters we can have no 
objection to their doing so, only we 
would humbly suggest that when 
written they should themselves commit 
them to the flames, instead of for- 
warding them to us to chuck behind 
the fire; it would save us a little 
time, and, as the writers need not affix 
the postage - stamp before consigning 
the precious document to the flames, 
they would save a penny. 
Some persons send us anonymous 
presents, no doubt expecting that we 
shall insert a paragraph in the 1 In- 
telligencer’ of such and such things 
having mysteriously reached us ; but 
we really cannot do this, and if the 
donors wish their gifts to be acknow- 
ledged we must really beg of them 
first to announce themselves. 
Some of our readers are highly in- 
dignant, we believe, because, though 
we repudiate anonymous communica- 
tions, we admit paragraphs into the 
* Intelligencer,’ in which the initials 
only, or a Greek letter, or a phrase 
such as “ Proh ! pudor,” is used by 
way of concealing the name of the 
writer. 
Many very talented and clever writers 
want the courage to appear palpably 
in print ; they have no objection to 
address and instruct the public from 
behind a screen, but that inherent 
British shyness prevents them facing 
the assembled multitudes. Now, why 
should we deprive ourselves of the 
talents and assistance of these clever 
modest people? 
The Editor of a journal is of course 
responsible for the tone of the matter 
he admits, whether the names of the 
actual writers are published or not, and 
we are surprised that any editor should 
avow his disapprobation of any paper 
published under his own superinten- 
dence : such an avowal can only ap- 
pear as a distinct admission that the 
editor has been absent from his post, 
and of course if a sentinel is once 
caught napping, we are likely to sus- 
pect he will again yield to somno- 
lency. 
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