137 



Burnett, the then Curator in charge ; he being obhged to 

 leave them while in a state of disorder, when just beginning 

 to arrange them. Thousands of specimens of Dr. Harris's 

 insects which had been stored in the garret of Harvard 

 Library were found destroyed when they came under Mr. 

 Agassiz's supervision, who was able to rescue but about one- 

 fourth part of those which had been put away in that place. 

 The same portion of the collection which was rescued from 

 this fate was again attacked by Anthreni while stored in the 

 rooms occupied by the Society in Bulfinch Street shortly 

 before our removal thence, for they were examined carefully 

 just previous to the Curator's absence from the country a 

 year ago, and were found somewhat infested on his return ; 

 and though since that time he has been through the whole 

 collection three times with great care and through parts of it 

 more frequently, and has also been assisted by the skill and 

 patience of Messrs. Smith and Sanbom upon the Coleoptera, 

 he fears that they are not yet wholly free from destroyers. 

 This all shows how gi^eat the need is of constant watchful- 

 ness ; it is as true here, as in medical treatment, that an 

 ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 



The Harris Collection comprises fi'om 12,000 to 14,000 

 specimens and about half the number of species, nearly all 

 from North America. The aiTangement initiated with re- 

 gard to them is to select of every North American species in 

 the collection representatives from every locality, of each sex, 

 and exhibiting every variation discoverable. These are ar- 

 ranged according to the systematic distribution used by him 

 in his own cabinet, so as to be illustrative of his own ideas of 

 their affinities and classification. Each species bears a dis- 

 tinctive number, and every specimen of a species is distin- 

 guished from the others by bearing in addition a separate 

 letter, so that any specimen in the collection can be spe- 

 cifically referred to ; these numbers refer to a catalogue, 

 distinct from the general catalogue of Insects. In this way 

 most of the Coleoptera were arranged previous to our removal 

 to this building, and since then the work has been completed, 

 and the Orthoptera also gone through with. These two 



