68 
This variety of geological conditions lias combined with the isolation 
of the British Isles as a whole and the still greater isolation of some of the 
smaller islands, to give us a fauna unequalled, probably, in its range of 
variation, by that of any other part of the Palcearctic area. The com¬ 
bination of two strong influences—that produced by natural selection 
acting on differences of environment (geological), and that produced by 
isolation—lias resulted in the variation of many species which in other 
parts of the Palasarctic area are but little subject to change. These 
varietal differences were but little noted until a few years ago ; but the 
writings of Darwin have largely changed this, and our learned biolo¬ 
gists of to-dav have gathered from a study of the variation of insects 
the facts on which have been founded some of the most important 
theories that have ever yet been formulated by the human mind. 
Wallace, Weismann, Poulton and others are essentially entomologists 
and biologists combined, and we all know how large a place entomology 
takes in their work. The ease with which insects may be obtained, and 
the rapidity with which generation succeeds generation, make them 
particularly suitable subjects for experiment, and this is sufficient in 
itself to explain why there is such a strong tendencj^ to rest the proof 
of the theories advanced on the facts connected with our favourite study. 
But this phase of our subject leads me again to point out what a gap 
there is between those people who collect for the mere sake of collect¬ 
ing, and those who study what they collect. The latter, if I may so 
put it, have passed from ignorance to knowledge, from darkness to 
light. Can anj’one tell the vast gulf that has been bridged here, or 
how greatly the enjoyment of life has been increased ? Can an 3 ’one de¬ 
fine the exquisite change of feeling with which an entomologist regards 
an insect once the barrier has been passed ? 
I have before pointed out the A’alue of collections, and therefore the 
bond fide position of collectors. I have shown how necessarily limited 
is the range of the collector compared with the whole field of natural 
science. I have suggested that a collector may be a mere cumberer of 
the ground, but have also indicated how, under favourable conditions, 
he may take a humble place among the scientific workers of his age, 
and aid in unravelling some of the many tangles and puzzles, the many 
mvsteries of Nature which evervwhere surround us. 
t/ t/ 
This leads me at once to the value of entomology as a subject of 
study. There are people who think that the only value of a thing is 
the money that it will fetch, utterly forgetful that monev itself is onlv 
of use in so far as it adds to happiness. The value of the study of a 
scientific subject cannot be gauged in this way. An old philosopher 
once said, Whatever it has been worth God’s while to create, it must 
be worth man’s while to study.” The mental pleasure which the 
subject gives must be the rule by which its value is measured. The 
constant and continuous pleasure afforded by entomology, the industry 
required in separating the wheat from the chaff in the more philoso¬ 
phical branches of the subject, can be pointed out as bringing about a 
condition of mental happiness, of which nothing can rob us and to 
which only an individual of the highest mental type can attain; then 
one may add the health-giving exercise necessitated by field work, the 
mental and bodily exercise combined tending to produce the coveted 
“ mens sano in corpore sano” Indeed, the charms of entomology are 
such, that one wonders not so much how it is that main' with a love of 
