June, I9IS-] SlOSSON : A Few MEMORIES. 87 



eye fixed upon some point on the wall not far below the ceiling as he 

 described graphically his capture of some Australian lepidopter. 

 When, after herculean efforts, the fight was over and the victory his, 

 he — and I too — felt somewhat spent and he would mop his moist brow 

 and sigh out, " Oh, it was glorious, a splendid specimen, new to 

 science, I'm sure." He was just as satisfactorily enthusiastic over a 

 friend's capture as of his own. In the first lot of lepidoptera I sent 

 him from Florida there was a specimen of Sphiux ciiprcssi, the only 

 one I ever captured, and he warmed my heart by dwelling on its 

 rarity and my wonderful luck. When I spoke in my letters of field 

 experiences he wrote at once in return urging me to print them and 

 when I rather timorously ventured to express an opinion as to what 

 I thought might be a new variety or species he begged me to be bold 

 and claim discovery at once. In a letter of December, 1887, he urges 

 my describing the Ecpantheria I had spoken of in my letters as having 

 partially denuded wings and, a little later, approves my printed de- 

 scription and my choice of name, — E. dcnudata. A few months 

 earlier he had written concerning a small moth I had taken in Florida 

 that, it belonged to a new genus which he should call Inguromorpha 

 and that the specific name was to be slossonii! I remember distinctly 

 the delighted, almost unbelieving, amaze with which I read that 

 letter. Without a thought of irreverence I felt like expressing my 

 willingness to " depart in peace " now that I had seen this greatest 

 of all earthly honors descend upon my humble head. An insect 

 named for unworthy me ! And the name was so sonorous and de- 

 lightful in sound. Inguromorpha slossonii! Like the proverbial 

 " Mesopotamia " of the eloquent preacher it stirred one's soul and I 

 think I murmured it even in my sleep. That it died a natural — very 

 natural ! — death a little later and sank into the dread valley of synon- 

 ymy has never dimmed the brightness and glory of that wonderful 

 christening and my very first entomological namesake. Mr. Edwards 

 was much interested in my re-discovery of Seirarctia echo in Ormond 

 and what I learned of the destructiveness of its larva, called there 

 locally, the " army worm." The species had been considered quite 

 rare up to that time. I sent him two of the showy larvre which he 

 raised and afterwards described in their different stages of develop- 

 ment. His letters at that time show his great interest in the matter. 

 ■' The two little fellows are very healthy and eating away at a 



