SKETCH OF DR. ASA FITCH. 119 



before him. The ruling passion was too strong for either time or 

 circumstance : glancing about, as if conscious of the incongruity of 

 the proceeding, he quickly seized his net, bagged the curious speci- 

 men, and with a half-guilty look proceeded with the reading. The 

 capture was an important one, as the moth proved to be new to sci- 

 ence. 



"While State Entomologist, his correspondence grew so large as to 

 seriously interfere with other work, and he was at last reluctantly com- 

 pelled to answer only such letters as were of most importance, devot- 

 ing the remaining time to research and the preparation of his annual 

 reports. These reports, of which there were thirteen in all, were pub- 

 lished in the " Transactions of the State Agricultural Society " ; the 

 first nine being also issued in three bound volumes, which were widely 

 circulated both here and abroad, and attracted very favorable atten- 

 tion. His researches were thus brought to the knowledge of foreign 

 entomologists, their value promptly recognized, and the Doctor was 

 soon enrolled as corresponding member of several foreign entomologi- 

 cal societies, and later became the recipient of their diplomas, medals, 

 and other testimonials of the appreciation m which his woi*k was 

 held. 



The great entomologists of Europe — Westwood and Curtis, of Lon- 

 don ; Dr. Signoret, of Paris ; Dr. Gerstacker, of Berlin ; Baron d'Osten- 

 Sacken, of St. Petersburg — were quick to avail themselves of his dis- 

 coveries, not only by gleaning from his published works, but through 

 the avenue of personal correspondence. His portfolios of foreign cor- 

 respondence ai-e literally filled with letters of inquiry and acknowledg- 

 ment from such noted specialists as Dr. Sickel, M. Selys de Lonchamp, 

 and the Abbe Marseul, of France ; Professor Boheman, of Sweden ; 

 M. Malde, of Germany ; and Andrew Murray, of Edinburgh, together 

 with many others of equal reputation. 



The success Dr. Fitch achieved was not in any sense the result of 

 favoring circumstances, but the legitimate outcome of his patience in 

 observation and study — study which was always directed by a well- 

 defined plan to a definite object, which as early as 1840 he thus laid 

 down : 



*' I have undertaken a very great work, and have laid upon my- 

 self a task both hard in the plan and difiicult in the execution. To 

 unite in one very limited body the most essential facts of the history of 

 insects ; to class them with precision and accuracy in a natural series ; 

 to delineate the chief traits in their physiognomy ; to trace in a laconic 

 and strict manner their distinctive characters, and follow a course 

 which shall correspond with the progress of the science and the emi- 

 nent men who have contributed to its advancement ; to single out the 

 useful and obnoxious species, those which from their manner of living 

 interest our curiosity ; to mark the thousand sources where the knowl- 

 edge of the original authors may be consulted ; to render to Entomolo- 



