52 WILDER, TERMEYEB'S 



a reeling or circular motion applied to the insects themselves. 

 This instrument is, of course, invalidated by the contents of 

 this book, but it is not a little remarkable that an idea so 

 novel, yet so simple, and one would think, so readily sug- 

 gested by what we may see on any summer's day, should 

 have been conceived and carried out a hundred years ago, 

 and yet that there should be no reference to its nature, 

 scarcely an allusion to its author, and, so far as I can ascer- 

 tain, no knowledge of its having been published, up to the 

 present time after I have been for three years engaged in 

 carrying out the same idea. 



The coincidence holds still further with the experiments, 

 and anticipations ; but here, I trust, all likeness will cease, 

 and that, so far from dragging out a.precarious existence for 

 forty years and then dying of neglect as it did in the Old 

 World, this idea shall, after its present resurrection in a 

 freer atmosphere, live to be what sober, cautious men already 

 expect of it, a means of luxury, of comfort and of nation- 

 al wealth. 



AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF PRESENTATION. 



[Translated from the French.] 



As one cannot forget the pleasure one has felt iii mak- 

 ing the acquaintance of M. le Baron de Walckenaer,. no 

 more can one forget the engagements one has made with 

 him. I fulfil that which I made, in sending to him this lit- 

 tle work upon his protegees, the spiders. They will be to 

 him a celebrity, and I know well that the world will envy 

 them the honor of having such an historian. 



I pray Mons. le Baron de Walckenaer to deign to ac- 

 cept the assurance of my high consideration. 



Lef tlJ (Lecomte?) de Beam. 



At the chateau de la Rochebeaucourt, the 15th day of October, 1833. Near 

 Mareuil, Dordogne. 



To Monsieur le Baron de Walckenaer. 



