PSYCHE. 



SOME OLD CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN HARRIS, SAY, AND 



PICKERING.— U. 



[HARRIS TO SAY.] 



Milton, Dec'r 22, 1823. 

 Dear Sir, 



It was with great pleasure that I re- 

 ceived your interesting letter, in reply 

 to the one, which I had the honour of 

 addressing to you. Your attention to 

 my queries has emboldened me to 

 trouble you with another communica- 

 tion. 



Our coasts and waters are extremely 

 barren of varieties of shells ; but few 

 being found except the most ordinary & 

 common species of Mya, Balanus, So- 

 len, Cardium, Ostrea, Mytilus, Murex, 

 Turbo, & Helix. I have no collection 

 myself, but may, perhaps, be able to 

 procure you some of these from my 

 friends. The coat of mail, or Chiton, 

 I have never seen. If you will point 

 out by what conveyance I shall send 

 you the insects described by the late 

 Professor Peck, I shall be happy to for- 

 ward them. Possibly a private oppor- 

 tunity may shortly occur to me. The 

 summer past, I procured a dozen or 

 more specimens of Xenos Peckii ; but 

 the insects were so small that I did not 

 succeed in preserving more than 2 or 3 ; 

 one of which is at your service if desir- 

 able. Prof. Peck described the insects, 

 named in my former letter, for the 

 Journal of the Mass. Agricult. Soc. 



They are now out of print ; but if I can 

 procure the numbers containing his 

 accounts. I shall endeavour to present 

 them to you. The papers & lectures of 

 this lamented friend are in my hands, 

 and will be published by my father & 

 myself, as soon as subscriptions to a 

 sufficient amount shall be obtained. 

 Many of his drawings are exquisitely 

 fine, & some of these it is proposed to 

 have engraved for the work. For the 

 sake of the widow, and orphan son it is 

 desirable that it should be published ; 

 I am doubtful however, whether it will 

 quite equal the expectations of all. His 

 friends could have hardly expected so 

 much from a self-taught naturalist, who, 

 for nearly twenty years, pursued, but 

 with scanty resources, his studies in ob- 

 scurity ; and who, in his latter and 

 more prosperous days, was a victim to 

 the repeated attacks of disease. A 

 short sketch of the life of this most 

 interesting & amiable man will be pre- 

 fixed to the volume, and will then 

 enable the public to appreciate his 

 merits, & to commiserate his misfor- 

 tunes. 



In the month of August last, I dis- 

 covered Cantharis marginata on the 

 banks of the Neponset, and have in- 

 cluded an account of it in a paper on 

 our indigenous medicinal species, drawn 

 up for the N. E. Medical Journal : it 



