. Annual report. Entomological Society of Ontario; Insect pests; Insects. 54 work has lost much interest. Among the waste of public money for scientific purposes I may mention the fact that the volume in the Natural History of New York, published by the State, contains actual copies (and poor ones) of Drury's old figures, without acknowledg- ment and this while the originals were flying about in the country all round the capital at Albany. While Drury was publishing his work in England, on the continent Fabricius, who followed very closely in Linnseus's footsteps, issued several descriptional
. Annual report. Entomological Society of Ontario; Insect pests; Insects. 54 work has lost much interest. Among the waste of public money for scientific purposes I may mention the fact that the volume in the Natural History of New York, published by the State, contains actual copies (and poor ones) of Drury's old figures, without acknowledg- ment and this while the originals were flying about in the country all round the capital at Albany. While Drury was publishing his work in England, on the continent Fabricius, who followed very closely in Linnseus's footsteps, issued several descriptional works on insects and in them are the descriptions of a number of our North American moths. Naturally our larger and gaudier species were the ones to be first described. Linne had named our " American Moon Moth " or " Queen of the Night," Actias Luna (Fig. 26), as also the "American Emperor" on " Cecropia Moth," Platysamia Cecropia A K M. u^^ r • Fig. 27. (Fig. 27). So far as the titles themselves are concerned, their choice depends on the fancy of the describer, and while Latin adjectives expressive of some characteristic marking or designating the country or the food plant were generally used, names out of Homer and the Classics were brought into fashion by Linneeus's example. Dr. Harris introduced a new feature into our nomenclature, by using the names of Indian chiefs for our Hesperida*. The name used for a species soon loses its signification apart from the object it designates. Respecting the name Cecropia. Dr. Harris says, on page 279 of the first edition of his book on the Insects of Massachusetts, that this was the ancient name of the city of Athens, and thinks it here inappropriately applied to a moth. But the late Dr. Pitch has written in his copy of Dr. Harris's work, now in my library, " Cecrops was the first king of Athens—Cecropia is the feminine of Cecrops—and thus implies the first queen of the most polished or
Size: 1699px × 1470px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1872
