110 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society Vol. VIll 



account of lack of literature. He afterwards sent quite a 

 deal of material to Leconte. Harris himself had only 375 

 species of beetles in 1825. 



In 1830 Harris met Major Leconte, though possibly not for 

 the first time. The latter, recently returned from Paris, had 

 brought hundreds of drawings of beetles of the Dejean collec- 

 tion, and devoted much time to a comparison, which resulted in 

 many changes in names. Leconte advised strongly that Har- 

 ris should re-publish all his descriptions of new species to make 

 them more accessible. One reason for this counsel was the at- 

 titude of Dejean himself ,who slighted many species named by 

 Say and renamed them, alleging that he could not read the En- 

 glish descriptions. There were two sides to Dejean's attitude. 

 The old school held vigorously that all scientific descriptions 

 must be written in Latin. Leconte the younger thought so, 

 too, and did it up to about 1873. Harris was a good Latinist 

 but wrote his descriptions in English, sneering a little at the 

 usual crude efforts in "dog" Latin. Harris also had, as 

 Leconte pointed out, about 200 new species in various orders in 

 his cabinet, which could be added to a symposium of new or re- 

 descriptions to be contributed to Silliman's Journal which was 

 at this time the only scientific periodical in the United States. 



In 1837 Harris began a correspondence and exchange of spec- 

 imens with Dr. Chas. Zimmermann. This gentleman is one of 

 the most interesting characters in the history of our study. 

 Although his father was a carpenter he himself seems to 

 have been thoroughly educated, and at all events he ac- 

 quired a mastery of the English language, virile, if idiomatic, 

 as his correspondence shows. He came to this country in 1835. 

 M. Sommer*, the banker of Altona, near Hamburg, an ardent 

 collector and patron of many entomologists, lent aid to his trip. 



Zimmermann was to send insects to him for distribution to 

 those who would buy at $5 a hundred, rather a low price, con- 

 sidering the collector and the scarcity of American material. 

 Of his experiences in America the following letter tells more 

 than a volume. Of hundreds of unpublished letters read to 

 find historical material, this is the best. Dickens could do 

 no better. 



*Cicindela sommeri Mannerheim is named for him. 



