PSYCHE. 



SOME OLD CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN HARRIS, SAY AND 



PICKERING.— IV. 



[HARRIS TO SAY.] 



Milton, Feb'y 21, 1S25. 

 Dear Sir, 



Mr. Nuttall has just sent me your let- 

 ter of Jany. Sth, with the insects which 

 you committed to his charge. I feel 

 myself under additional obligations to 

 you for your attentions, and am highly 

 gratified with the specimens which I 

 have received from you. 



I have met with but one individual of 

 the Diccelus elongatus\ and, since my 

 last, have obtained the male of Boleto- 

 fihagus cornutus ; Yourspecimen is the 

 female, & is of a lighter colour, as is 

 represented in the plate attached to 

 Panzer's Prod[r]omus. Both these in- 

 sects must be considered as rare in this 

 section of the country. The Nemog- 

 natha vittata & species of Lytta are 

 exceedingly interesting to me. The 

 other insects I have never discovered 

 here ; they are therefore valuable ad- 

 ditions to my small collection. 



Mr. Fuller purchased for me the first 

 vol. of your American Entomology, 

 which is executed in a most beautiful 

 manner, & must add greatly to the liter- 

 ary fame you already enjoy. You are 

 entirely at liberty to quote my localities 

 for any insects which you may hereafter 

 describe, either in this work or the Jour- 

 nal Acad. Nat. Sc. In your Entomol- 



ogy I find a species of Smeriiithus 

 which I have never noticed : we have 

 one however very much like it, which 

 I have taken to be the ocellata ; whether 

 it may be the myops or excaecata I can- 

 not determine, having never seen the 

 descriptions of those species. 



Feeling myself the great want of 

 books on American entomology, & 

 knowing the impossibility of our insects 

 being determined without good descrip- 

 tions, I have had it in contemplation to 

 describe all the species which I have 

 collected, with the view to publishing a 

 small local Fauna of the insects in this 

 vicinity. With this intention I have 

 resolved to visit Philadelphia the ensuing 

 spring, to request your assistance in deter- 

 mining the genera & species. You have 

 described so many of our insects which 

 I had considered new, and your descrip- 

 tions of many of them having never 

 reached me, that I was quite surprised 

 to find that, among those which I have 

 sent you, there were so few nondescripts. 

 I shall immediately obtain the Trans. 

 Am. Philos. Soc. & if possible the 

 Journal of the Lyceum. 



As you may publish your descriptions 

 of Coleoptera before I have an opportu- 

 nity of consulting with you, I will give 

 the names of such of ours as now occur 

 to me, with some remarks on those whose 

 names you gave me in your last letter. 



