56 
For purposes of ordinary identification in a general work of reference, as 
this was intended to be, little fault need be found with the major portion of 
the series. Of course this presupposes that the plates were to be colored, 
as it was not the author’s idea to issue them in any other way In fact the 
very manner of engraving the figures shows this to be the case. In the 
plates that were published by him, only half the editions were sent out 
uncolored, and this only because of the great expense attending coloring 
so many sets by hand— the distribution being entirely gratuitous. 
In these days of cheapened processes for multiplied color reproduction 
this matter is a serious obstacle in the way of future publication of Mr. 
Glover’s plates by the Government. Even if an edition of the plates 
should be issued, without the text they do not tell the whole story, 
and the text is not finished ; and in several orders the material is hardly 
systematized or arranged. The plates, if published alone, with only 
the names, would possess a certain value even if not colored, and it 
would be better to publish in this manner than not at all. Eegarding 
the question of coloring, if sets of the entire series were distributed 
gratuitously by the Government, the recipients could well afford to have 
them colored afterwards at their own expense from the original set. 
Through combinations of a number of persons, so that a large contract 
could be given out, the work could be done possibly at $35 to $40 per 
set, which would be cheap for such a complete series of illustrations. 
In regard to the published volumes which bear Mr. Glover’s name, 
these are valuable from their very scarcity, and from the fact that they 
are all he has given us in published form, save the reports which have 
appeared from time to time in Government publications. As works 
giving a certain amount of information on two or three somewhat neg- 
lected orders of insects they are useful ; but from the stand-point of 
scientific worth they are more valuable as series of named plates than 
as scientific publications — the often fragmentary and incomplete text 
giving little hint of the author’s years of observation and study in the 
field and vivarium. 
As for the name and fame of the author, a published work compris- 
ing an entire set of the plates alone is a sufficient monument to his un- 
tiring industry, indomitable perseverance and skill, and to his faithful 
labors through a period of twenty-five years -for the advancement of 
American entomological science. He wished to do more, but through 
the limit set upon human endurance and existence he fell just a little 
short of carrying out his great purpose. He did not strive for fame 
tli rough any contributions to the vast store- house of technical knowl- 
edge, or the dry-dust records of closet investigation that he might have 
made, nor did he ever wish to be considered an authority. But he early 
realized the difficulties which beset the way of the student of nature, 
and that other student of practical rural economy, in obtaining a knowl- 
edge of the insect forms about them, at a time when there were few 
books and fewer named collections, and set to work to remedy the matter 
as far as he was able. 
