1872.] 



SENATE— No. 249. 



2T 



known for its typical value, and is unrivalled in AmericTa. The 

 Diptera received from Professor Loew, comprise chiefly genus- 

 types, and a number of types of his American Diptera, — a real 

 treasure to the Museum. 



The collection of New England insects, I am sorry to say, is 

 one of the weakest parts of the whole, particularly as the spec- 

 imens are more or less badly set. Professor Agassiz, consider- 

 ing this defect as one of the most important, invited Mr. J. 

 Boll, an experienced collector, to come to Cambridge ; during 

 the autumn, Mr. Boll collected in and around Cambridge sev- 

 eral thousand specimens. Some Micro-Lepidoptera have been 

 raised, and a great number are stored in rooms arranged for the 

 purpose, to be raised in the spring. It seems beyond doubt, that 

 the superior manner in which Mr. Boll arranges the specimens 

 will soon render the Museum of Comparative Zoology, a pat- 

 tern for every entomologist. The winter will be employed by 

 Mr. Boll in spreading and setting in a new manner the whole 

 collection of Lepidoptera, which will give it a twofold value, and 

 allow a scientific study and determination of specimens, which 

 hitherto, and particularly in the Heterocera, has been an impos- 

 sible undertaking. 



Concerning the general state of the entomological collection, 

 the work goes on in a steady, but necessarily a slow manner, 

 according to the plan adopted by Professor Agassiz. The prin- 

 cipal object of this plan is to keep safe all specimens acquired 

 by the Museum ; the second, to arrange them scientifically ; and 

 the third, to work them up as standard types. The first has been 

 done throughout, a labor of great extent, as every specimen has 

 to be labelled. The second is done for a small part : for three- 

 fourths of the Lepidoptera, for one-third of the Coleoptera, and 

 for some parts of the Neuroptera. The third is yet to be done. 

 Considering that an experienced worker may be able to finish 

 thoroughly one species a day, or, if he is well acquainted with 

 his material, perhaps two species ; considering further, that 

 some families alone, consist of more than 10,000 species, it is 

 evident how slowly such a work must advance if carefully done. 

 The Berlin Museum, the Museum at Vienna, the British Muse- 

 um, and the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes, have been 

 working for seventy years, and nowhere is the task finished. 

 Such a work is not to be bought for any money in the world ; 



