OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XII, 1'tlll. 109 



artist, he was disgusted at the slovenly manner of mounting 

 insects then in vogue in this country. He carefully prepared 

 each specimen with such cleanliness and neatness that his col- 

 lection soon became the admiration of all entomologists who 

 came to Washington, or who received specimens from him. 

 His beautifully prepared specimens, widely distributed by ex- 

 change to other collectors, induced these to mount their in- 

 sects in better form. He early began collecting the micro- 

 coleoptera, then but little known in this country, and so suc- 

 cessfully that he discovered hundreds of new species in the 

 vicinity of Washington. 



In 1859 Ulke was first mentioned in the writings of Dr. Le- 

 conte, and thereafter he was frequently referred to in the 

 papers of Leconte and Horn. Often Dr. Horn, before pub- 

 lishing a paper, would visit Washington and invite Dike's 

 criticism of his manuscript and examine the Ulke collection 

 in that group. 



Ulke did not do much traveling. About 1859, with his 

 brother, he went to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and 

 New Brunswick, and obtained many rare species and European 

 forms hitherto unknown in this country. On the way back 

 he met Dr. Packard at Salem, Massachusetts. In 1860 he re- 

 visited Germany and met various noted entomologists there, 

 and on his return, at the invitation of Louis Agassiz, he went to 

 Cambridge, where he met Dr. Hagen. Before returning to 

 Washington he visited Dr. Asa Fitch, who was much pleased 

 by this attention. In 1865 he made a short trip to Chicago 

 and became acquainted with Mr. Bolter. 



But the vicinity of Washington was his great collecting 

 ground, and no locality in this country has been so thoroughly 

 examined for beetles as Ulke did for the region about 

 Washington. This is shown by his list of the Coleoptera of 

 Washington, the largest list of a small region ever published 

 in this country. 



His favorite spot was on the Virginia side of the Potomac 

 near the old Aqueduct Bridge. It was to this point that, on 

 several occasions, he guided the famous dipterist, Baron von 

 Osten-Sacken, who was then a resident of Washington. 



