ENTOMOLOGY 
Osten-Sacken 
Collection. 
Robinson 
Collection. 
First Study 
Collection. 
Drexel 
Collection. 
Southwick 
Collection. 
Jesup Col- 
lection of 
Economic 
Entomology. 
The collections of insects presented to the Museum in 1870 by 
Baron Osten-Sacken and Mr. Coleman T. Robinson were so important 
that Mr. Robinson was made curator of them, serving without salary 
till his death in 1872. The number of specimens in the department 
was about 20,000. A large part of these collections was subsequently 
destroyed by pests, so that in 1886, when a separate Department of 
Entomology was again established, the total number of specimens was 
less than 30,000, and many of these were in poor condition. 
The collection presented by Baron Osten-Sacken in 1870 comprised 
about 3,800 North American insects of all orders except Lepidoptera, 
and contained 2,000 specimens of beetles, representing 1,000 species. 
The series of American and European lepidoptera presented by 
Mr. Coleman T. Robinson in 1870 consisted of about 10,000 specimens, 
representing 3,000 species. 
In 1874 Mr. R. A. Witthaus gave a collection of American coleoptera 
containing about 8,000 specimens, and 2,000 species, desiring that it 
should form the nucleus of a cabinet to be devoted exclusively to the 
use of persons especially interested in entomology. This gift marked 
the beginning of the study collections. 
A collection numbering 2,235 specimens of insects, butterflies, 
and moths was the gift of Mr. Joseph W. Drexel, in 1880. 
About 5,600 insects collected in New York and New Jersey by 
Mr. E. B. Southwick were presented by him in 1886. 
The material acquired previous to 1889 was almost entirely through 
gift. Since 1889 the additions by gift, purchase, and expedition have 
gamed for this Department an enviable reputation, especially in its 
collections of lepidoptera, formicida?, and diptera. 
The insect groups in the Jesup Collection of economic entomology, 
begun m 1889, represent the hfe history and other phases of insects 
injurious to trees, and are illustrated by their food plants made in 
wax, showmg the injury done to the trees by the insects. These 
[52] 
