2 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [January, 



presented by Say, who considered it a very faithful picture of 

 himself. Dr. Skinner informs me that there is another of these 

 engravings in the library of The Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia, and beyond this I know nothing of the history of 

 the original, nor could I learn anything of it at New Harmony. 



In this portion of my sketch, the aim will be to follow Say only 

 to his removal from Philadelphia to Indiana, in 1825, the re- 

 mainder will accompany the engravings which illustrate his life 

 in his Western home. 



As the author has not been able to himself secure any impor- 

 tant data from the people of New Harmony relative to the life 

 of Say prior to his coming West, he is for this information obliged 

 to draw very largely upon the memoir read by Say's friend, Mr. 

 George Ord, oeiore the American Philosophical Society, Dec. 

 19, 1834, and 1 ^uiished in the LeConte edition of Say, pp. vii 

 xxi. vol. i. 



Thomas Say was born in Philadelphia, July 27, 1787, of Quaker 

 parentage, at least on his father's side, the latter being a physician 

 and apothecary. Thomas was educated under Quaker patronage, 

 which probably compared favorably with the educational ideas of 

 the times, but the embryo entomologist appears to have had a 

 too warm love for nature to take kindly to such unnatural methods 

 of acquiring knowledge, and as a result his distaste for letters 

 frequently appeared in his publications during after life. With* 

 the thrift and industry so frequently a marked characteristic 

 among the Friends, it is not surprising that his father should 

 seek to place his son in a respectable avocation, and, hence, after 

 he left school, Say was first taken into partnership in business by 

 his father, and later established, with others, a separate firm, to 

 continue in the same useful calling. Here, again he gave token 

 of his future, and at this early day appears to have thoroughly 

 abhorred a life of buying and selling as he did in later years. 

 He appears to have inherited the mild, lovable disposition of the 

 sect from whence he sprung, but not their thrifty financial ability. 

 He was, during his whole career, generous to a fault, but his 

 honesty and integrity has never been questioned. In the minds 

 of those of his acquaintances who yet survive him, he lives as a 

 man who loved his neighbor ^even better than himself and who 

 never had -an enemy. With such a character it is not in the 

 least surprising that he did not succeed in business, but became 



