The Museum as it stands To-day 93 



work. The Insects of Massachusetts Injurious to Vegetation, pub- 

 lished in 1841, with a second edition in 1852 and a third illustrated 

 edition in 1862. The collection was purchased by the Society in 1858. 

 It has always been kept apart from the other collection of insects, 

 and contains about 4,660 species and about 9,750 specimens. It rep- 

 resents the oldest insect collections extant in the United States and 

 contains the types of about 140 species. 



In regard to his collection of insects, Dr. Harris, on March 8, 1837, 

 wrote to Mr. C.J. Ward as follows: "My object in making a col- 

 lection, and for this purpose asking the aid of my friends, has not 

 been merely personal gratification; it has been my desire to add 

 something to the cause of Science in this country. . . . Even should 

 death surprise me before the results of my labors are before the pub- 

 lic, I shall leave an extensive, well-arranged and named collection, 

 which, from the care bestowed upon it, will be in a condition for 

 preservation and will remain as a standard of comparison when I 

 am gone." 



In 1903 was begun a study collection of New England insects, 

 the old collection being largely on exhibition, having been badly in- 

 jured by the effect of light. Repeated trips to various parts of New 

 England, with intensive collecting on Mount Washington, New 

 Hampshire, Mount Desert, Maine, the Berkshires, and Nantucket, 

 Massachusetts, together with the cooperation of members and 

 others, have been largely responsible for the exceptional status of 

 the Society's present collection. 



The only large recent gift was the collection of the late Howard 

 Lee Clark of Providence, Rhode Island, presented to the Society 

 in 1927 by Mrs. Clark. This handsome collection of moths and 

 butterflies contained about 1,100 species, represented by over 7,200 

 specimens, mainly from New England. 



