XVlll MEMOIR. 



in the Curatorship of Entoraolooy, Hcnrv Bryant, since well 

 known to the world of science. This task kept us in con- 

 tact with • Dr. Harris ; we had tlic aid of his cabinet m 

 identifying the species ; hut the more we used this ready 

 assistance, the more profound became the wonder how Dr. 

 Harris himself had identified them. There were no manuals, 

 no descriptions, no figures accessible to us ; even in the col- 

 Iqctq library there were only a few books on tropical insects, 

 and a few yast encyclopedias, which appeared to hold eyery- 

 thinjT but what was wanted. It seemed as if a special flin;lit 

 of insects must haye come to Dr. Harris from the skies, all 

 ready pinned and labelled. Older heads than ours were 

 equally perplexed, and the mysteiy was neycr fairly solved 

 until after the death of our dear preceptor, and the transfer 

 of liis cabinet and papers to the Boston Society of Natural 

 History. 



It was then apparent by what vast labor Dr. Harris had 

 compiled tor himself the literary apparatus of his scientific 

 study. A mass of manuscript books, systematized with French 

 method, but written in the clearest of Enjilish handwritin";s, 

 show how he opened his way through the miglity maze of 

 authorities. First comes, for instance, a complete systematic 

 index to the butterflies described by Godart and Latreille, in 

 the Encyclopedic M(3thodique. Every genus or species is 

 noted, with authority, reference and synonymes ; the notes 

 l)eing then rearranged alpliabeticully and pasted into a vol- 

 mne — perhaps three thousand titles in all. This was done 

 in 1835. 



Then comes a similar conipilatiyn of the Coleoptera from 

 Olivier ; twenty Ibolscap pages, giving genus, species, locality, 



