52 WILDER, TERMEYER'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 ^ee 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 op Presentation. 



[Trwislaled from the French.] 



As one cannot forget the pleasure one has felt in 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**-' (Lecomte?) de Beam. 



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

 Mareiiil, Dordogne. 



To Monsieur le Baron de Walckenaer. 



