( NOV 19 1854 



An Account of the Collections which illustrate tFhT 

 Labors of Dr. Asa Fitch. 



Having been requested by the family of the late Dr. Asa 

 Fitch, State Entomologist of New York, to examine and report 

 upon the condition of his great collection of insects, I visited 

 " Fitch's Point, " Salem, N. Y., on the 12th and 13th of 

 November last and made as careful an investigation thereof as 

 the time and circumstances allowed. Believing the accom- 

 panying facts of general interest to all naturalists I respectfully 

 submit the followino; notes. 



Dr. Asa Fitch's "general collection " of insects of all orders 

 fills one hundred and six boxes (" cartons li^g^s" of Deyrolle, 

 nearly all of double depth, size 26x19^ cm.), and is now in 

 excellent condition, having only to the extent of perhaps fifteen 

 per cent, suffered from a slight coating of dry mould, easily 

 removed. No Anthrenus or other Dermestidae are to be 

 detected among them. Very few, perhaps fifty in all, are 

 broken or badly damaged, out of upwards of fifty-five thousand 

 numbers. The collection, although largely from the United 

 States, is by no means confined thereto, as it contains numerous 

 specimens from all parts of the world, obtained by exchange 

 with Drs. Sichel and Signoret and Messrs. Fairmaire, Andrew 

 Murray and others. The coleoptera occupy eighteen boxes, 

 orthoptera seven, neuroptera six, hymenoptera eight, diurnal 

 lepidoptera four, and the heterocera seventeen. Both 

 divisions of the hemiptera are nobly represented, the hetero- 

 ptera filling fourteen, while the homoptera, to which group the 

 doctor, as all are aware, devoted so much study, occupy twelve 

 boxes, including all the types of the descriptions in the New 

 York State Agricultural Reports. Diptera are contained in five 

 boxes, while the remaining four include arachnida, myriapoda, 

 Crustacea, etc., mostly terrestrial and local. 



In addition there are two large cases containing duplicates, 

 by estimate over one hundred thousand pinned coleoptera, 

 principally from New York state, and upwards of twenty 

 thousand of other orders, as well as several trunks, boxes, etc., 

 containino; exchano-es which seem never to have been incor- 



