OF WASHINGTON. 15 



occasions, there is no similar collection and reproduction of the 

 writings of a single entomologist to be found anywhere in the 

 literature. 



So far as I am aware this difficulty has not been experienced 

 by the European entomologist, at least not to that degree, and 

 it is surprising to see from booksellers' catalogues how much 

 of the old periodic literature of Europe is still to be had at very 

 moderate price, whereas most of our older serials are now 

 utterly out of print, or can only be obtained at exorbitant cost. 

 To increase the difficulty of studying entomology, some of the 

 older authors had the regrettable custom of publishing strictly 

 scientific papers in utterly out-of-the-way places, which were 

 inaccessible even to their contemporaries. What induced Say 

 to print, between the years 1830 to 1832, four important de 

 scriptive papers in the "New Harmony Disseminator," the 

 most obscure village paper that could be found in this country, 

 even in those early times, has not yet been explained ; but to 

 any one who understands how to read between the lines of 

 Ord's biography of Say it becomes apparent that just about 

 that time there was a great coolness between Say and his former 

 friends in the East, and that Say, in his isolated position in the 

 West, had probably no other place for publication. Among 

 these papers is that on the North American Heteroptera, 

 of which, according to Scudder, only one copy is known to 

 exist in this country, viz : that which came into possession of 

 the Boston Society of Natural History from Harris' library. 

 It was finally republished by Fitch in 1857, and LeConte's sec 

 ond republication in 1859 is a reprint of Fitch. Dr. Harris did 

 the same thing, and what makes the case against him worse is 

 that he knew and acknowledged that he did something wrong. 

 He printed, in the years 1828 and 1829, a series of purely tech 

 nical descriptions, entitled " Contributions to Entomology," in 

 what Dr. LeConte, many years afterwards, called a "vile 

 sheet. ' ' This is the way in which Dr. Harris excuses himself 

 (see letter of Harris to Hentz, dated November 19, 1828): " I 

 am aware that the ' New England Farmer ' is not likely to 

 be much circulated among men of science, and therefore will 

 not be considered the best authority, but it is a convenient 



