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still extant witness to the great value of the collection. The 

 Hentz collection was purchased of Prof IST. M. Hentz for the 

 sum of $550 by friends of the Society, who subscribed in 

 response to a circular issued by Dr. Harris in 1835. It con- 

 tained a most choice collection of Coleoptera from all parts 

 of the United States, about 1,500 species in all, catalogued 

 and arranged and accompanied by admirable dissections, copi- 

 ous notes and drawings of characteristic details, and was 

 also very rich in American Hymenoptera. Of these two col- 

 lections scarcely one fiftieth part remains in a condition fit 

 for any purposes of comparison or identification whatsoever, 

 and almost none which are suitable for public exhibition. 

 The damage done to these collections by the ravages of the 

 Anthrenus, the exposure to dust, and the practice of baking, 

 has been excessive. Some 30 or 40 drawers of specimens 

 appear never to have had a cabinet for their reception ; cer- 

 tainly none can now be found, nor have I ever seen a trace of 

 one. Such specimens of these collections as will bear public 

 inspection will be arranged in the systematic collections, and 

 those of which only fragmentary remains can be rescued will 

 be placed for a study collection in drawers. The Harris Cab- 

 inet was purchased in 1858, shortly before the Curatorship 

 was ofiered to the present incumbent. It had previously been 

 carefully scrutinized by Mr. Alexander Agassiz, who selected 

 from the maze of boxes in which a considerable portion of 

 the collection had been placed, such as were worthy of pres- 

 ervation after the exposure they had been subjected to, 

 subsequent to Dr. Harris's death and before they had reached 

 our hands. The arranged collection of United States Insects 

 had, however, received no injury from this cause, having 

 remained in the hands of his family. The injury thus 

 mentioned to all these collections has resulted from the same 

 cause, namely, the want of constant care of the objects. 

 There are no objects of Natural History so endangered by 

 destructive insects as Entomological collections. An inspec- 

 tion of the Curators' reports in years past leads the Curator 

 to think that a great part of this injury to the old Society 

 collection and to the Hentz collection occurred not far from 

 the time of the dangerous illness and subsequent death of Dr. 



