TRANSFER OF LOEW’S COLLECTION TO CAMBRIDGE 
85 
scriptions, d la Curtis. This edition de luxe , of course, would have 
been published in Germany, under the superintendence of Dr. Loew, 
and would have contributed, without much trouble on his part, to 
his own glory. I paid no attention to this selfish proposition. In a 
letter (from Halle, October 27,1874), Loew returned to this subject, 
and mentioned Ivowarz as a fitting person for the work I had pro¬ 
posed ; but it was evident that Loew was not serious, and I aban¬ 
doned the matter. The earlier letter (July 4, 1874) was typical of 
the rest; six closely written pages, the last of which contained not 
less than fifty-three lines, a letter written at intervals, in a rambling 
way, passing from one subject to the other, without treating any¬ 
thing seriously. It was evident that Loew was struggling pain¬ 
fully between two conflicting duties. He now began to think of 
the possible expediency of sending to America at least portions of the 
collection (Loew’s letters of October 27 and December, 1874). In 
answer to these proposals, I advised him (January 22, 1875) to write 
to Mr. Alexander Agassiz (successor of Prof. Louis Agassiz in the 
management of the Museum), and to inform him that his (Loew’s) 
health prevented him from working any longer upon the collection, 
and that he would prefer to send it over, either in portions, or the 
whole at once. I added, for Loew’s guidance, that the collection 
would be kept intact, and not incorporated with the other collec¬ 
tion. Whereupon Loew answered (February 15,1875) : “ As you in¬ 
form me that the collection will be kept separately, I have no doubts 
now how to arrange a gradual transfer of it. I shall begin with 
those portions which contain most of the types described by me. 
Whatever I have in hand of unpublished species of these same 
families, I shall, at the same time, publish.” This letter was written 
from Berlin, and Loew complained that, on account of the length 
of the session, he would have to remain there till June. The next 
letter, likewise from Berlin, was written leisurely at the Chamber 
of Deputies, on March 20, 21, 22, 1875. It was again a long, ram¬ 
bling, nevertheless most friendly letter, containing an account of 
the state of entomology in Europe in general, reflections on the 
system of classification to adopt in the future Catalogue, etc. The 
conclusion was: “ I hope to write again soon and more at leisure. 
Bis dahin herzlichen Gruss , allezeit aber in hochachtungsvoller 
