1934 ] 
Insect Collections of a Public Museum 
159 
In 1867, on receipt of the (for the time) munificent gift 
of $140,000 from George Peabody, a banker of London 
(born in South Danvers, Mass., since named Peabody in his 
honor), if took the name “Peabody Academy of Science,” 
and embarked upon a career more particularly devoted to 
education. The natural history collections of the Essex In- 
stitute of Salem (founded in 1848) were added to its own, 
and in its early days, as the Peabody Academy of Science, 
its destinies were presided over by several men whose 
names were to become known later through their labors in 
scientific fields. I refer to such men as Frederick W. Put- 
nam, Edward S. Morse, Alpheus Spring Packard, etc. 
Shortly thereafter, it met with financial reverses, and cer- 
tain of its collections, notably those of the insects described 
by Packard, which faced almost certain destruction by 
pests, were turned over to the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology at Cambridge, Mass., in order to assure their pres- 
ervation. A large number, it is true, remained, but, being 
almost continually exposed to white light, their deteriora- 
tion was rapid. 
In addition to the insect collections named above, mate- 
rial naturally accumulated in those groups which were the 
special study of officers of the museum; and, as the pub- 
lisher of the “American Naturalist,” the Museum was the 
recipient of more or less material sent in as payment for 
subscriptions to that journal. These specimens, together 
with those received from persons seeking information about 
local insects, accumulated rapidly, resulting in the forma- 
tion of a collection of varied character and provenance. In 
addition, specimens of the local butterflies in Denton tab- 
lets, and of the commoner local moths, made by interested 
amateurs, had found a place in the museum collections at 
the beginning of the twentieth century. 
With the exception of the local butterflies, these speci- 
mens were practically all pinned, and were contained in 
trays about 10 x 12 inches in size, painted white, and lined 
with white paper stretched on both sides of a wooden frame 
in an ingenious fashion devised by Prof. E. S. Morse (see 
Amer. Nat., vol. 1, p. 156, or Riley, C. V. — Directions for 
Coll. & Pres. Insects, Bull. U. S. N. M., no. 39, p. 105). 
