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kind disposition to oblige me in those articles that are the subject of the following lines; I must 

 therefore infomi you that I am engaged in the study of Natural History, but as the extensiveness of 

 it in all its several parts is very great, I confine myself entirely to one single branch, and that is Insects. 

 A branch I find fully sufficient to engage my attention without entering into any of the others, and in 

 consequence of this I am endeavouring to obtain as large a collection of foreign ones as I possibly can ; 

 to this end I am under a necessity of getting various recommendations from my friends to gentlemen 

 settled in foreign parts, who I must consider as the only persons that can effectually assist me in this 

 scheme. Pennit me therefore. Sir, to beg your concurrence herein, and if the highest ideas of 

 CTratitude can prompt a man to make an adequate return for any favour of this kind, be assured I 

 shall take the earliest opportunity of manifesting mine for any thing you shall think proper to oblige 

 me with. The great distance the continent of Africa is situated from London, the ignorance we 

 labour under of its produce in the insect world, and the great difficulty I have found in procuring any 

 insects from those parts, are circumstances that rather increase than blunt my desire for them; but 

 as in the course of fourteen years I have not been able to procure any great number, I can only attribute 

 this disappointment to my having never been able to apply to any gentleman settled there, for the 

 persons that I have hitherto commissioned to this purpose were those that returned with the ships they 

 went in, and I imagine their time was too short to be able to procure such things for me ; but as 

 Mr. Carghill has informed me your residence in Africa will afford you many leisure hours, permit me 

 to indulge the hope of your complying with this request. It is necessary for me to inform you that 

 there is no occasion for your bestowing any time of your own in this pursuit, as I imagine it might be 

 done by people to be hired in Africa to that purpose for a very trifle ; and as it is necessary I should 

 inform you where and in what manner insects in general are to be taken, give me leave therefore to 

 explain the use of the things I have sent for that purpose : you will observe the bows of the forceps being 

 covered with gauze, and folding so close together as to prevent any small insect's getting out when 

 once enclosed, constitutes a contrivance the best adapted of any thing I ever saw for that purpose, it is 

 small enough to be carried in the pocket, and if you have curiosity enough to employ an hour in this 

 amusement, permit me to say you will have a scene of wonders opened to you in the insect world, you 

 will have such a number of objects of speculation present themselves, that will amaze you. When an 

 insect is inclosed in these nets it is to be stuck through the body with a pin (I have sent some for this 

 purpose), and in that manner placed in the box, whose top and bottom are lined with cork. Suffer me 

 to beg of you (if you will be so obliging to procure me some of those things) to get a larger box made 

 in Africa of soft wood, in which a pin will easily enter, and replace the insects out of the oval box 

 now sent into that, and when filled I will entreat you to commit it to the care of a friend to be 

 conveyed to England, giving him at the same time a charge to keep it from being tumbled about by 

 the rolling of the ship, which will certainly damage the contents, and favouring me with a letter of 

 advice ; it is necessary to beg you to paste a slip of fine linen or paper all round the crevice and opening 

 of the box, to prevent the cockroaches, ants, &c. getting in, who will infallibly damage and destroy the 

 insects in it ; I forgot to mention that they should not be removed out of the oval box into the great 

 one till they are dead, because they will scratch and tear one another to pieces, therefore when the 

 person comes home from collecting, they may be taken out singly and stuck on a piece of board or 

 stick, and held close to the fire (not so as to burn or scorch them), and this in less than a minute will 

 effectually kill them, afterwards they may be stuck very close together in the large box, and in that 

 manner sent to England. I will just mention what kinds will be most acceptable, and where they are 

 to be found, viz. beetles or insects with hard cased wings, insects with transparent wings, such as wasps, 



