THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 83 



CLERCK'S ICONES. 



BY W. J. HOLLAND, PH.D., D.D. 



Under the title "/cones Iiisectoruin Rariorum citm Nomiiiibus 

 coruin trivialibus, locisque c C. Lmncci Arch : R : et Equ : Aur : Sys^ : 

 Nat: allegatis'' Charles Clerck, a member of the Royal Academy of 

 Sciences of Upsala, commenced the publication at Stockholm, in the year 

 .1759, of a series of plates intended to illustrate the species of exotic 

 lepidoptera recently named by his distinguished fellow-countryman, the 

 immortal Linnseus. 



About a month ago I received from Mr. Felix Dames, the well-known 

 bibliopole of Berlin, a letter informing me that he had succeeded in 

 securing a remarkably fine copy of this exceedingly rare work, which he 

 held at my disposal. I immediately cabled to him that I would become 

 its purchaser. But six or seven copies of the book are known to be in 

 existence, and not all of these in perfect state. The one I own, which 

 has just come into my hands, and which is the only copy which has ever 

 crossed the Atlantic, is in superb condition, and enjoys the distinction of 

 being, with the exception of the copy in the library of the Royal Academy 

 of Sciences at Stockholm, the only example in which there are the plates, 

 so far as published, of the Third Section of the work which Clerck did 

 not live to complete. He died on July 22nd, 1765. 



Hagen, in his Bibliotheca Entomologica, states that the work consists 

 of two sections, the first of which, in addition to the title page and 

 dedication, has eight pages of Swedish and Latin text, together with 

 sixteen plates ; and the second, in addition to the dedication, contains 

 three pages of text, thirty-eight plates, and an index of three pages. The 

 copy lying before me contains, in addition to the parts described by 

 Hagen, seven plates, numbered from 4 to 10, of which the first two are 

 coloured, and the next to the last (pi. 9) is partly coloured. 



The extreme rarity of the book is well known to lepidopterists. 

 Gottlob Wilhelm, in his " Unterhaltungen," Ins. H.. page 16, published 

 in 1779, is quoted by Strecker in his " Butterflies and Moths of North 

 America," p. 218, as having described the work in the following terms : — 

 " Fifty-five pages large 4to, a simple register, together with a dedica- 

 tion and preface, compose the whole work, which, at auction, was sold 

 for 600 Swedish dollars." Hagen tells us that the book was distributed 

 by the Queen of Sweden in the form of presentation copies, and that it 



