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To the Trustees of the A merican Museum of Natural History. 



Gentlemen — I desire to offer for your acceptance, a collection of 

 North. American Coleoptera, consisting of about 2000 species, represented by 

 some 8000 specimens. 



As my esteemed friend, Baron Osten-Sacken, has already presented 

 your Museum with an exceedingly full and well arranged collection of 

 Coleoptera for public inspection, I desire that my donation may form the 

 nucleus of a cabinet, to be devoted exclusively to the use of persons spe- 

 cially interested in the study of Entomology, and to this end I beg to 

 impose the condition that bhe specimens shall be preserved either in boxes 

 such as those in which they now are, or in drawers such as are in use in the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge. 



I will state here that my collection contains a large amount of unnamed 

 material, and a number of duplicates. It will require some labor to arrange 

 the former ; the latter will be useful for exchanges. 



The Collection will be ready for delivery as soon as you will be ready to 

 receive it in your new building, which I trust may be soon completed. 



I am, G-entlemen, 



Yours Respectfully, 



R. A. WITTHAUS, Jr. 



November 10th, 18*73. 



