37 



ralsino; them from the larvae. Through him I have ascertained 

 the larvae of many species in my collection, and particularly of 

 the Lepidoptera. 



HARRIS TO HENTZ. 



Milton, Sept. 4, 1828. 



On the 30th of July I obtained another specimen of the 

 Dolomedes described to you in my letter of August, 1824, and 

 of which you have the individual then found. The second was 

 discovered on the top of a high bush, near a running stream. 

 It forms a large, irregular, loose, horizontal web, at one extrem- 

 ity of Avhich Avas situated its follicle or egg-bag, covered with 

 the young. The parent appeared watching them at some dis- 

 tance. Unfortunately the insect was subsequently lost, but not 

 till after I had compared it with a drawing I had made in 1824, 

 [Fig. 1], with which it entirely agreed. It is not a little singular 

 that after looking every year in vain for this spider, I should at 

 length discover it within fifteen days of the same time of the 

 year, and within a stones throw of the same place where the first 

 one was observed. You considered it as paradoxical that this 

 spider should inhabit bushes, and make a web, and I was 

 therefore unwilling that you should take my word for it, until 

 further examination was made. You may now be assured that 

 its location was not fortuitous, but a matter of choice, and con- 

 sistent with its economy. 



Your attempt to procure a correspondence for me with Pro- 

 fessor Germar, is a very acceptable service ; there is no Euro- 

 pean, perhaps, who could better furnish information respecting 

 the modern genera of the nocturnal Lepidoptera than that dis- 

 tinguished entomologist. This branch of the science is, you 

 well know*, particularly interesting to me, and lias received 

 much of my attention. I have already distinguished sixteen 

 subgenera of the Bomhycidoe^ five of the Arctiadce^ and sev- 



