LOEW’S RECEPTION OF MY FIRST WORK ON TIPULIDAE 
33 
I anticipated with pleasure some discussions with him about my 
classification, which, although founded upon very insufficient mate¬ 
rial, had the merit of originality, and introduced an abundance of 
characters that had never been used before. The first letter from 
Loew (January 17, 1860), announcing the reception of my work of 
1859, began with an apology for the delay in acknowledging it, 
which he attributed to the dilatoriness of the bookbinder to whom 
he had immediately sent it (“ Die Saumseligkeit des Buchbinders, 
welclier mir Ihre Limnobina nicht wiederbrachte, die ich ihm gleich 
bei dem Eintreffen ubergab”). “At present,” he continued, “I 
have studied your paper thoroughly (‘ durchstudirt ’). You are 
perfectly right in complaining of the very unsatisfactory arrange¬ 
ment of the letter-press which interferes very much with the in¬ 
dispensable orientation. Nevertheless, with some good-will, one 
succeeds in getting through it and is rewarded by the contents 
(‘und freut sich dann des gewonnenen Kernes’). Your work is 
a real progress in the classification, that perhaps will require modi¬ 
fication when the faunas of other parts of the world are taken into 
consideration. . . . That you have not hesitated to multiply con¬ 
siderably the number of genera gives me pleasure (‘ freut mich 
selir ’). I would have even commended you if, in this respect, 
you had in some cases gone further. You see that your publication 
has caused me great pleasure. I shall, as much as I can, make use 
of it for my own studies. It would be expedient to popularize its 
systematic contents in one of our entomological periodicals. I do 
not know whether you have already done so in your notice in the 
Stett. Ent. Zeit.J- but what I know for certain is, that you would 
by this means have rendered a great service, especially if you had 
added an enumeration of as many European species as possible 
belonging to your new genera. In both respects you would have 
promoted the more speedy reception of your work.” 
About six weeks later, Loew (March 11, 1860) found it neces¬ 
sary to renew his assurances. “ Your work on Limnobiae I have 
studied again and again.” The result of these studies became 
apparent when, in the course of the next year, Loew published in 
the Wien. Ent. Monats ., 1861, p. 34, among other Cuban Diptera, 
1 I had published a short notice about my work in the Stelt. Ent. Zeit., I860,p. 87. 
3 
