Vol. XXV] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 2QI 



"I have devoted my attention almost exclusively to Lepidoptera 

 why, I do not know, unless I was first attracted by their beautiful 

 colorings."* "The field of observation here is almost unlimited, poorly 

 cultivated and abounding in the most interesting, beautiful and unde- 

 scribed rarities." In his first letter he says: "Should I not, even at 

 the risk of being egotistical, give you some introduction to myself? 

 I am yet young, as you have perhaps conjectured, a physician by edu- 

 cation and profession, and a graduate of the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania ; but here, I fear, my scientific qualifications to your regard 

 must find an end. I stand merely on the shores of science, gazing on 

 the immensity before me. And as I follow with my eyes the full- 

 freighted intellects which, fanned by the wings of fame, sail over its 

 placid waters in search of unknown truths, I am filled with doubts 

 and the feelings of despair which arise from a consciousness of my 

 own imperfections." Letter No. 4 says, in part: "I determined long 

 since to form no collection for myself and freely gave away all speci- 

 mens I have systematized. Such specimens as are new I add to the 

 collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, where 

 anyone may find them." No. 6: "It is with feelings of some trepida- 

 tion that I send by present post my first paper on Entomology. Need 

 I say I shall be pleased to have your opinion on it? Do not hesitate to 

 indicate that which you conceive to be objectionable or erroneous. I 

 have honestly expressed the results of my own labors, regardless of 

 the praise or disapprobation they may meet with, and confident that 

 if my conceptions are truthful and accurate they will stand the tests 

 of examination and discussion." 



Letter No. 9 (the last) was dated Easton, Pennsylvania, 

 October 29, 1860, mentions the deaths of a lovely and accom- 

 plished sister and his father-in-law, whom he greatly respected 

 and loved. These letters show him to have been generous, 

 loving, modest, fearless, and of poetic feeling. He was evi- 

 dently inspired with the love of science and nature. It was 

 a great pity that such an ardent and capable worker should 

 have been the victim of what is now called "the crime of ty- 

 phoid fever." 



In 1903, August Busck, an authority on Tineina, wrote 



as follows : 



* When Dr. Clemens was attracted to the micro-moths on account 

 of their beauty he probably never imagined that they would become 

 of economic importance. A number of his species attack crops and 

 are very destructive. This is due to the fact that man has upset the 

 balance of nature. Crambus caliginosellus Clem, is estimated to do 

 $800,000 damage to tobacco in Virginia annually, and other species he 

 described in this genus injure grasses, oats, corn, wheat and rye. 



