Alfred Russel Wallace 



I can recognise and perfectly remember every species you 

 mention. . . . 



Now with regard to your request for notes of habits, 

 etc. I shall be most willing to comply with it to some 

 extent, first informing you that I look forward to under- 

 taking on my return to England a ^' Coleoptera Malay - 

 ana,'' to contain descriptions of the known species of the 

 whole Archipelago, with an essay on their geographical dis- 

 tribution, and an account of the habits of the genera and 

 species from my own observations. Of course, therefore, I 

 do not wish any part of my notes to be published, as this 

 will be a distinctive feature of the work, so little being 

 known of the habits, stations and modes of collecting 

 exotic Coleoptera. ... 



You appear to consider the state of entomological litera- 

 ture flourishing and satisfactory : to me it seems quite the 

 contrary. The number of unfinished works and of others 

 Avith false titles is disgraceful to science. . . . 



I think ... on the whole we may say that the Archi- 

 pelago is vert/ richy and will bear a comparison even with 

 the richest part of South America. In the country between 

 Ega and Peru there is work for fifty collectors for fifty years. 

 There are hundreds and thousands of Andean valleys every 

 one of which would bear exploring. Here it is the same 

 with islands. I could spend twenty years here were life 

 long enough, but feel I cannot stand it, away from home 

 and books and collections and comforts, more than four 

 or five, and then I shall have work to do for the rest of 

 my life. What would be the use of accumulating materials 

 which one could not have time to work up ? I trust your 

 brother may give us a grand and complete work on the 

 Coleoptera of the Amazon Valley, if not of all South 

 America. . . . —Yours faithfully, Alfred K. Wallace. 



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