73 
TRANSFER OF LOEW’S COLLECTION TO CAMBRIDGE 
give a detailed account of the whole transaction. For the facts I 
rely upon the collection of the letters of Loew to me between 1871 
and 1879, and upon my own letters to him during that period, 
of all of which I possess the originals, 1 and on my letters to the two 
Agassiz, of which I have retained rough drafts. 
These drafts may not be verbatim reproductions of my original letters, 
which perhaps still exist in the archives of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 
in Cambridge, Mass., for the reason that in making a fair copy of a letter, I often 
introduce changes which are not always found in the original draft ; but, as to 
facts, the drafts are of course trustworthy. 
As I said in the “Introduction” (p. 7), after resigning in 1871 
my post of Consul General of Russia in New York, I spent a part 
of the two following years in Europe. Before leaving the United 
States, I had, with the permission of Prof. Louis Agassiz, deposited 
my own collection of North American Diptera in the Museum in 
Cambridge, Mass. I also had had a conversation with him and his 
son, Mr. Alexander Agassiz, about my plans concerning the large 
collection of North American Diptera in the hands of Loew. I re¬ 
produce the draft of a letter of mine to Prof. Louis Agassiz, dated 
from Riva, Lago di Garda, October, 1872: — 
Before leaving the United States I took occasion to mention to your son 
how desirable it would be to secure for the Museum of Comparative Zoology 
the collection of North American Diptera now in Dr. Loew’s possession, 
which contains all the types of his descriptions. Allow me to explain to 
you the origin and the present condition of this collection. The majority 
of the specimens and species which it contains were collected by me, and 
sent to Loew for the purpose of being described. I distinctly reserved my 
right of ownership in these specimens, as can be proved by the correspond¬ 
ence exchanged between Loew and myself on this subject. My sole inten¬ 
tion, however, in thus insisting upon my right of ownership was to secure 
the eventual return to the United States of these specimens, which in the 
meantime would have become valuable types of descriptions. And all I 
am expecting now, in consideration of the cession of my rights, is, that 
Dr. Loew, my friend, and for many years my collaborator in American 
dipterology, and to whose writings the collection owes its principal value, 
1 Loew’s widow had returned to me all the letters I had written to her husband be¬ 
tween 1871 and 1879. Of my letters to Loew between 1856 and 1871, with rare excep¬ 
tions, I have neither drafts nor originals. 
