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A Voice from the "Wilderness ! 



Key West, Fla., April 15, 1887. 

 "Dear Mr. Smith : 



I yesterda\' made my first excursion on this Island, and find that 

 collecting is very troublesome here. I'he whole Island is covered 

 with a dense brush, composed of numerous species, mostly entirely 

 unknown to me, but all being of the hardest and heaviest wood, 

 so that my knife and chisel are entirely powerless to cut out the numerous 

 insects which live in the branches. This brush is liberally interspersed 

 with immense Cac/us plants so as to be impenetrable in most places. In 

 spite of these unfavorable conditions I see that a great many interesting 

 tilings can be found, and 7//0S/ of the small species I have found are en- 

 tirely new to me. Of the large beetles found by Ashmead and Morrison, 

 I have seen nothing so far except A^eoclyliis devastator, Elaphidion sp. , 

 and the holes made by one of those gigantic Prionids. Chrysobothris 

 chalcophoroides, collected by Morrison, seems to be plentiful, but it is so 

 wild that I have not yet secured a single specimen. * * * * I have not seen 

 a single Noctuid yet, but this section of the country with its numerous 

 evergreen shrubs (not Conifers), appears to be an Eldorado for leaf- 

 mining Tineids. The weather is very pleasant, the heat by no means 

 unbearable, though I of course got frightfully sun-burnt on my first ex- 

 cursion. There is fortunatel}' not a drop of fresh water on this Island, 

 but lager-beer is 20 Cents per glass." 



Poor Mr. Schwarz ! for it is Mr. E. A. Schwarz that writes me as 

 above. The want of water seems bearable for it is unhealthy, but other 

 beverages to be so scare — that is a misfortune ! 



Mr. Schwarz writes further that he has discovered a beautiful new 

 Thysandes in Fig, (T. ficus Schw. MSS. ), and a \\q\v Pityophthorus (nian- 

 zanitcB '$>q\vw . MSS.), in the bark of "Manzanita," and no doubt other 

 novelties will be discovered by this careful and industrious collector. 



Mr. Palm and Mr. Beutenmiiller of our Society are also on a col- 

 lecting trip in Florida, and no doubt will turn up some fine species. 



J. B. Smith. 

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Book Notice. 



The Hawk Moths of North America, by A. Radcliffe Grote, A. M., 8vo., 

 pp. 63, Bremen, 1886. Price >i.oo. 



By the kindness of the Author, we are in possession of the above 

 work, which, in view of its Author and subject, ought to have more 

 than a passing interest to American Lepidopterists. 



The present work is very neatly printed upon good paper and con- 

 sists in summary of three parts : I St, On Collecting and Preserving for 



