June, 'o6] entomological news. 223 



place to deposit them and our finances in condition to begin purchasing 

 them. For some time we will have to depend upon the libraries of our 

 two universities. 



This has been a tremendous blow to us all and rare is the person who 

 has not lost something. First was the earthquake, which, though caus- 

 ing the loss of a great many lives and much destruction, would not have 

 been greatly noticed. It was the fire that did the great damage, destroy- 

 ing all of the city, except a mere fringe of residences. Dr. Blaisdell and 

 I were fortunately in this belt. The Academy was so much injured by 

 the earthquake that it was only with the greatest difficulty that what few 

 things were saved could be gotten out. Our Director, Mr. Loomis ; our 

 Botanist, Miss Eastwood ; and our Librarian, Miss Hyde, did what they 

 could. 



The loss in valuables, such as books, pictures, bric-a-brac, records, etc., 

 has been tremendous, for San Francisco was a wealthy city, and had 

 many priceless things stored in both public and private places. Of his- 

 toric places we saved but two, the Museum Dolores and the U. S. Mint. 

 The Pioneer Hall, with its old records and historic relics is a ruin. For- 

 tunately the H. H. Bancroft Library of Early California Records, a price- 

 less librarv of its kind, now belonging to the University of California, was 

 saved. All other libraries were burned ; the Sutro with about two hun- 

 dred thousand volumes, particularly rich in Shakesperiana and Fifteenth 

 and Sixteenth Century books and manuscripts ; the Public, the Mechan- 

 ics-Mercantile, the Library of St. Tgnatius College, where were stored 

 many very valuable original manuscripts, all law libraries, and the library 

 of our own Academy. In the latter, we calculate that we had about 

 twenty-five thousand dollars' worth of books which cannot be duplicated. 



There was, fortunately, a great deal of money stored in the Mint and 

 in our banks, which will soon be available. This will enable our busi- 

 ness people, who are working like trojans, to begin on the work of re- 

 building, almost immediately. In a few years our city will be fairer and 

 almost as extensive as ever. It will always be great to those who love 

 it, and though it may secure many new valuables, will I fear never have 

 again many of the things that some of us knew it possessed. 



The conditions now are somewhat like those in a bristling frontier set- 

 tlement. The streets in the unburned districts are crowded, signs are 

 everywhere, big firms doing business from stores that were formerly 

 small stock ones, from private residences, or from counters in vacant 

 lots ; troops patrolling all districts night and day, while all cooking has 

 still to be done in the streets, all of our chimneys being injured to such an 

 extent as to make it dangerous to make a fire indoors. Many are being 

 taken care of by our outlying cities and towns, and many have gone to 

 distant relatives or locations. There are, however, a sufficient number 

 whose interests or whose love is too great to allow of their leaving the 

 stricken city. The blow, while falling heavily upon the wealthy, will 

 cause most suffering among the small clerks, and next among the pro- 



