CORRESPONDENCE WITH BRAUN. 37 



to Vallorbe with him for some days, and I 

 passed a week there, spending my time most 

 agreeably. We went daily on a search after 

 insects ; the booty was especially rich in bee- 

 tles and butterflies. ... I examined also M. 

 Mellet's own most excellent collection of bee- 

 tles and butterflies very carefully. He has 

 many beautiful things, but almost exclusively 

 Swiss or French, with a few from Brazil, in 

 all about 3,000 species. He gave me several, 

 and promises more in the autumn. . . . He 

 knows his beetles thoroughly, and observes 

 their habits, haunts, and changes (as far as he 

 can) admirably well. It is a pity though that 

 while his knowledge of species is so accurate, 

 he knows nothing of distribution, classifica- 

 tion, or general relations. I tried to convince 

 him that he ought to collect snails, slugs, and 

 other objects of natural history, in the hope 

 that he might gain thereby a wider insight. 

 But he would not listen to it ; he said he 

 had enough to do with his Vermine. 



My brother writes me that my box has ar- 

 rived in Neuchatel. As I am going there 

 soon I will take it then. I rejoice in the 

 thought of being in Neuchatel, partly on ac- 

 count of my brother, Arnold (Guyot), and 

 other friends, and partly that I may study the 



