36 
ROBERT KENNICOTT 
my friend Robert Ivennicott, of Illinois, for placing at my 
disposal a highly valuable collection of Diptera, made during his 
travels in the northwestern parts of the Union. Later, he ex¬ 
tended his travels much farther north, within the possessions of 
the Hudson Bay Company. Any dipterologist using the volumes 
of the “ Monographs of North American Diptera ” by Loew and 
myself, or Loew’s “ Centuries,” will often in them meet with the 
name of Robert Kennicott, as the discoverer of many new species. 
Ivennicott honored me with his particular friendship, and it is 
astonishing that, with his numerous duties in all branches of natu¬ 
ral science, he found time enough to collect Diptera for me. 
In order to show the high appreciation in which the authorities 
in Washington held Ivennicott’s services, I shall quote passages 
from official publications in that city. The History of the Half 
Century of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1897, says 
about Kennicott: — 
“ The notable explorations of Robert Kennicott in British Amer¬ 
ica and Alaska were made possible by the cooperation of several 
private individuals and scientific organizations and the Hudson 
Bay Company. This intrepid explorer, whose early death was a 
severe loss to American natural history, spent four years in the 
North and made the most extensive travels.” 
An account of Ivennicott’s earlier explorations is found in the 
Smithsonian Reports. The Report of 1863, p. 36, says : “ The 
specimens received in 1863, from this [Ivennicott’s] exploration, 
filled forty boxes and packages, weighing, in the aggregate, 3,000 
pounds. They embrace in the line of natural history thousands 
of skins of mammals and birds, eggs, nests, skeletons, fishes, 
insects, fossils, plants, etc. In the line of ethnology are skulls, 
dresses, weapons, implements, utensils, instruments of the chase, 
in short, all the requisite material to illustrate the peculiarities 
of the Esquimaux and different tribes of Indians inhabiting the 
northwest regions.” 
It was in the beginning of his career of travel that Kennicott 
wrote me a very characteristic letter, of which I reproduce ex¬ 
tracts to illustrate the hardships he had to endure, and at the 
same time the easy, good-natured disposition, which makes it 
