I am aware that many persons who have given only occasional 
thought to zoological study, consider the subject a pleasant one, 
but not particularly useful or practical. Permit me to enumerate 
some of the necessities for such study and such collections. 
Children gaze for hours, delighted with the subject, though not 
understanding it, and their quick perceptions note matters of 
form, color and habit never to be forgotten. 
Our laboring population turn to such collections for healthy 
rest and recreation, and most foreigners have knowledge on the 
subject, far in advance of the average American. 
The designer for the weaving or printing of fabrics, the potter, 
the wood carver, and the jeweler, copy the colors and forms of 
insects, shells, and plants, into the most satisfactory and saleable 
products of their arts, yet their frequent complaint is that they 
cannot obtain study from actual specimens and must copy from 
representations that, although faulty have, alas, become well 
known through frequent reprint. 
What can be more practical in agriculture than a correct under¬ 
standing of the form and habits of noxious insects and their par¬ 
asites, and the ability to distinguish between those that are useful 
and those objectionable. Certainly the systematic study of food 
fishes and mollusks is worth thousands of dollars to this country. 
