104 
LOEW AS A DIPTEROLOGIST 
that I had relations with Loew, I met him only live times (1859, 
1865, 1871, 1872, and 1877), always at his place of residence (at 
Meseritz, and afterwards at Guben), and each time only for a few 
days. The impression he made upon me during these short inter¬ 
views is in perfect accordance with the pleasant portrait of him 
drawn by Dr. Krause. It is to me a source of great regret that 
the time of Loew’s last illness and death almost coincided with 
my permanent establishment in Europe. A few years of close 
communion with him would have brought us nearer to each other 
in mutual appreciation, perhaps for the benefit of science, but most 
surely it would have been for my own benefit to have held intimate 
intercourse with a very superior man. My high esteem of Loew I 
have shown in devoting twenty-one of the best years of my life 
(1856-1877) to his service. 
Before attempting to render an account of Loew’s career as a 
dipterologist, I feel bound to define my qualification, as well as my 
limitation, for such a task. My qualification consists in the twenty- 
one years of collaboration with him in the work on North American 
Diptera; my limitation, in not having made a particular study of 
European Diptera, so that I am unable to form, as a specialist, an 
adequate opinion of the principal portion of his life’s work. This 
limitation does not extend, however, to my criticisms of his views 
on classification , as these are applicable to his work upon the faunae 
of both continents. 
What I intend to do is to show in what kind of work Loew's 
great merit consists, and to point out, at the same time, in what 
qualities he was deficient. T will show that his failings are princi¬ 
pally perceptible at the beginning of his career, while he was feel¬ 
ing his way, and, in his thirst for work, trying for it in different 
directions, until he recognized his true vocation, descriptive dipter- 
ology , and concentrated upon it his whole power, with marvellous 
ardor and endurance. And I shall sum up by proving that his colos¬ 
sal descriptive work will be the permanent foundation of his fame. 
At a time when, after Meigen’s retirement, European dipterology 
threatened to remain at a standstill, and exotic Diptera were left 
to the tender mercies of the respectable but very insufficient 
Macquart, and to the mischievous activity of Walker, Loew ap- 
