BEETLES. 35 



the Cis and Trans-Caucasian provinces. He accepted 

 her proposition, and spent several years in travelling 

 through the countries, all the while being recom- 

 pensed in a princely manner by the Empress, and 

 journeying in the greatest style and expense. His 

 many classical and valuable works with regard to 

 the Zoology and Botany of those provinces, pub- 

 lished in French, German, and the Russian languages, 

 were the result of his extensive labours, and to this 

 day attest his eminent ability in the department of 

 Natural History. 



On his return to St. Petersburg, he offered to 

 sell his large collection of natural productions for 

 the sum of fifteen thousand roubles : but when the 

 Empress heard of it she wrote him, telling him that 

 he knew very well how to write a learned work, 

 but that he did not know how to make a calcu- 

 lation, for his cabinet was worth twenty thousand 

 roubles, and that she would be the purchaser of it 

 at that price, under one condition, viz., that the 

 cabinet should remain in his house for his use as 

 long as he lived. Accordingly, she accompanied her 

 letter to Pallas with the twenty thousand roubles. 



This delicate and munificent present of the Em- 

 press, was followed by her settling upon him large 

 estates in the Crimea, where he preferred to reside ; 

 but a great portion of these estates he sold, after 



