42 



to leadiuj^ authorities whom he wished to complimeut, or to those who 

 had loaued him insects. The borrowed material was not necessarily 

 retained until the plates had been tinished, for bis first work on receipt 

 of a species new to him was to make a careful drawing of it in detail, 

 after which it was colored to life ; the name was then written upon the 

 drawing, together with brief notes (sometimes) for his guidance when 

 it came to be engraved. The plates were laid out most carefully and 

 the position of each insect indicated before a line was drawn. The fig- 

 ures were then carefully traced upon gelatine, the lines filled with dry ~ 

 red lead, and the outlin-i transferred to the copper. After this they were 

 etched and finished with the graver in the usual manner. 



It has been a matter of surprise to me that Mr. Glover did not more 

 carefully preserve the original drawings from which the figures on his 

 plates were engraved. Many he did preserve, but by far the larger por- 

 tion of the earlier ones are not now in existence, as far as I have been 

 able to learn. Some of the more recent ones are now in the possession of 

 the National Museum, thougli chiefly relating to two orders.^ But he 

 always made a practice of coloring the first copy of a new plate very 

 carefully for his private set of plates, his working set, as he called it,t 

 and subsequent copies were colored from this. 



In 1868, when the Department of Agriculture was removed to its 

 new building, the entomologist was able to have a room to himself, to 

 which he brought a large library, and where he deposited his plates for 

 safe keeping. An amusing peculiarity of the man at this time was 

 shown in the matter of book-shelves, which, for reasons of his own, he 

 fitted up at his own expense, from boxes, though there was no necessity 

 for his doing so. 



He was now allowed a special museum assistant, a taxidermist, and a 

 messenger, in addition to the regular entomological assistant, and the 

 demands of the museum upon his time were thereby lessened. This 

 left the hours of official duty more free for entomological investigation, 

 for the compilation of notes from current literature and from authori- 

 ties which previously had been only partially reviewed; though it 

 should be stated that no inconsiderable portion of the day was devoted 

 to callers, and to those seeking information upon a wide range of sub- 

 jects connected with the museum display or otherwise. To all he showed 

 the utmost courtesy, though the more prominent of his visitors were 

 invariably taken to his private office to see the work on insects. The 

 scheme was there unfolded in detail, and he ever delighted to talk to an 

 intelligent listener. He described the design in full, and at the same 

 time illustrated its utility by referring to some well-known injurious 

 species, invariably closing with the reading of a brief account of its his- 

 tory, with references to remedies and to the figures of the insect in dif- 

 ferent stages upon his plates, and with the stereotyped query : " How 

 do you like the plan?" 



* Many of the Florida drawings are in the Harvard College library. 

 t This is now in the National Museum. 



