54 



should he ever have occasion to leave the Department he can have a 

 place in the Museum of Comparative Zoology on his own terms/' 



Many extracts from the letters of entomologists might be here given, 

 showing the estimation in which the work was held, for Mr. Glover had 

 many friends in the scientific world who knew him only by his labors 

 in this, his chosen field. But one extract will be quoted, however, from 

 a letter written to me by Mr. William H. Edwards, when it was first 

 suggested that the Government should purchase Mr. Glover's plates : 



Dear Sir : I am very glad to hear that an eft'ort is making to secure for the coun- 

 try Professor Glover's copper plates of the insects of the United States and his manu- 

 script relating thereto. These materials are invaluable to us, and should Professor 

 Glover dispose of them in England or elsewhere the kiss could never be made good. 

 Being an enthusiastic entomologist, as well as artist, these idates have been to him a 

 labor of love, and he has given to them the better part of a life-time, and executes 

 them with the greatest fidelity. His work on the cotton insects is beyond ali praise. 

 I know of nothing comparable to it on the range of entomological illustrated litera- 

 ture, and the plates of this work and notes belonging to them are worth, in my opin- 

 ion, to the country the full sum that Professor Glover requires for the entire lot of 

 plates and manuscript. 



In giving my own estimate of this work I must regard it from the 

 stand-point of view that will show the intentiou of its author. He 

 never proposed to put it forth as a technical work, or as a learned con- 

 tribution to science, for the instruction or better information of special- 

 ists, advanced students, or entomological investigators already possess- 

 ing large libraries and collections, but he did propose to make it, ichen 

 fully conqjleted, a work of reference for all orders of insects in the popu- 

 lar sense of the term, for all who might be seeking general information 

 upon subjects relatiug to American entomology. In his conception of 

 the work, as in that of his museum plan, but one idea was aimed at — 

 utility. Jt was a favorite word with Professor Glover, and whether his 

 original intention was a work of 80 plates or 300, or the text of 100 or 

 1,000 pages, his only thought was to make it so simple and so useful 

 that a farmer with no appreciation of entomological science could con- 

 sult it as be would a dictionary, and learn something of the subject 

 upon which he desired to inform himself. It was to be, in short, an 

 illustrated encyclopedia of economic entomology, and if it had been fin- 

 ished and published in accordance with the author's design, there would 

 be nothing now in entomological literature like it. It certainly would 

 be wrong to judge it by his gratuitous publications. And no one, after 

 fully understandiug the scope and design of the work, and examining 

 the great mass of material which represents the labor of twenty years 

 of Mr. Glover's active life, will deny either its utility or its value for 

 the purpose for which it was intended. 



Supposing the work had been published in its entirety, and dis- 

 tributed in the manner Mr. Glover proposed it should be, among agri 

 cultural societies, to town libraries, etc.: A farmer of average intelli- 

 gence, we will say, comes, with an unknown insect in hand, to consult 

 it. It would require very slight entomological knowledge to enable 

 him to refer to the list of food plants to learn how many and what in- 



