PSYCHE. 



SOME OLD CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN HARRIS, SAY, AXD 



PICKERING.— I. 



[Many years ago Dr. J. L. LeConte 

 entrusted to me some letters of Dr. T. 

 W. Harris and Dr Charles Pickering, 

 for use if I wished it in the Entomolog- 

 ical Correspondence of Dr. Harris, 

 then preparing. Most of them were 

 written in the earliest period of their 

 entomological studies, from Milton and 

 from Salem, and in the discrimination 

 that had then to be made from the great 

 volume of correspondence, only one of 

 them was used, (loc. cit., 251), viz. 

 one from Harris to Say, written from 

 Milton in 1829. The others, however, 

 are so interesting as showing the con- 

 dition of entomology at a time when 

 the numbers of its devotees in this coun- 

 try could easily be counted on one's 

 fingers, and as revealing in some slight 

 degree the temperament and character 

 of the different writers that I have 

 thought it worth while to reproduce 

 them in Psyche, one at a time, that 

 others may share the pleasure I have 

 had in their perusal. 



The letters proposed to be printed in 

 this series are six from Dr. Harris and 

 two from Dr. Pickering, all addressed 

 to Say, together with the abbreviated 

 di-aft of Say's replies, which, whenever 

 such occur, were scribbled on the back 

 of the writer's letters. They will be 

 printed in chronological order, first five 

 letters from Dr. Harris written between 

 1823 and 1825 with Say's replies, then 



two from Dr. Pickering, both of 1825, 

 and finally the last of Dr. Harris's, of 

 somewhat later date, in 1S34, tne ^ ast 

 from each of Say's correspondents bear- 

 ing no reply. All are printed exactly 

 as written, abbreviation, punctuation, 

 and all, with an occasional memorandum 

 of my own in brackets. The first of 

 the series is given below with the reply. 

 The others will follow under the above 

 caption, from time to time as oppor- 

 tunity offers. — Samuel H. Scudder.~\ 



[HARRIS TO SAY.] 



Milton, (Mass.) July 7, 1S23. 

 To Thomas Say, Esqr. 

 Sir, 



Though personally a stranger to 

 you I have taken the liberty of address- 

 ing you — and, in doing so, I have the 

 permission of Mr. Nuttall to use his 

 name as a password to admit me to 

 your notice. An ardent love of Natu- 

 ral Science has induced me, though en- 

 gaged in an arduous profession, to de- 

 vote some of my leisure moments to the 

 study of Botany & Entomology ; but 

 the want of books, time. & patience, 

 has not permitted me to make any great 

 proficiency. Permit me, Sir, respect- 

 fully to request your aid in this pursuit, 

 so far, at least, as to answer some que- 

 ries which I would propose to you. In 

 May 1822 I accompanied an invalid to 

 Philadelphia, but was hurried away by 



