Letters from Alexander Henry Haliday to Hermann Loew 25 May 1862, September 6 1862, 1 November 1862
Bagni di Lucca, 1862.5.25 Dear Dr
Loew Your letter of the 12th of May reached me at Monte Benelli [1] on the 22nd; rather a tedious conveyance, as you indeed had anticipated; but this did not lessen the pleasure I had in receiving it. I congratulate you on having got through the toils of the Election [2] [3] , and as you hope, not fruitlessly, and that you are now at liberty to return to the more gentle Muses[4]. Your friend Zeller [5] is very conscientious, but it is not likely, with the other objects I have in view, that I should have been tempted by any picture of insect life, to face the malaria [6] at an advanced season. Just now, the roads above Lucca are crowded with the flocks of the Lombard [7] shepherds,—each with the inevitable pig in company —removing, from the Maremma [8] of Tuscany, to the mountain pastures; so that I am warned if I wish for a peep at the Maremma, not to wait for June. I have had a plan of a few days’ excursion, to see the isle of Elba, the Borax lakes of Monte Cerboli [9] , and to touch some outskirt of the Maremma; but it is likely to be prevented by a visit from a family out of Ireland, my near neighbours there, for forty years and more. Meantime I have come over here (where I begin to write) to get up more conveniently to the skirts of the Apennines, and judge how far vegetation is advanced among the hills. The Bagni are sunk in a deep ravine, shortening the day by four hours, it is calculated; and my second evening here has been one of heavy rain with the clouds lying half way down the mountains. When I get back to Monte Benelli I hope to hear from Bellardi [10], and to know somewhat more of our plans, which I may communicate, in the delightful hope that it may lead to a meeting with you, in the hills, in July. Meanwhile, I commence with some entomological gossip. If we meet, the difficulties about transportation of parcels, which I also feel on the other hand, will, I suppose be obviated. If not, I imagine the shortest way will be through Messrs Williams & Norgate and their Leipzig correspondent ___________. I have at present, a second packet from them on its way by sea to Livorno. I made the trial of sending, in a letter lately, to Dr Reinhard[11], a few small Hymenoptera, in a cell cut in a morsel of a cork; but I found it was necessary to make applications and declarations, at the Post, as if they suspected the contents to be Orsini [12] explosives. As yet, I know not whether they reached Dresden at all; but a letter to England, at the same time, with a minute Acritus, also corked, did go safe. I shall be very glad of the opportunity of examining the Hymenopterous Parasites of Diptera. I begin to think that Lucca will yield me more among these my oldfavourites, than of Diptera. I believe my last letter to you was written too far back, for me to have mentioned the capture of a species of Iteaphila (a Northern genus, I think, it was considered,) at no great elevation. I was driving, with a friend in one of the country vehicles, home from the Baths, out in the wildest, rocky, part of the valley of the Serchio[13], I was attracted by the conspicuous white flowers of a Cerastium. Few of the tuft�s were in accessible situations; but having reached some, I found them peopled by the Iteaphila. Three weeks later, nearly, I went alone one morning to the same region, but the Cerastium had run to seed, and the Iteaphila was nowhere to be found. The forenoon was unfavourable on the hills, thunder & rain; when it cleared up, I climbed the steep hills which hem in the riverbed, but got little to reward me—no Diptera—only Col. and Hem. Another day’s excursion to the sea coast was more productive. Flora had begun to deck herself; Convolvulus, Soldanella & Euphorbia paralias,and at the Serchio mouth Tamarin;—in the adjoining woods a wilderness of flowers. I told you before of a little fly I had found, forming, as I thought, a new genus of ---- On the coast I got a third species abundant,—having got a second, previously, about shady brooks in the hills above Lucca. With this third, but very sparingly, occurred a little Dolichopid, —wearing, like that, the peculiar hoary livery of the species of the dunes; and so like in size &c that it was chiefly by its much more brilliant green eyes I distinguished it. This also I think will form a genus having much the form of but a free hypopygium, & antennae like Aphrosylus. But the most interesting capture to me was 1½ specimen (one being a wretched relic) of a small species, smoothing the transition from Ochthera to the other Ephydrine, by its incrassated fore femora, with spines beneath, and having a peculiar form of head &c. The Dolichopidae as yet are not abundant, Orthocihle unicolor perhaps the most diffused. One Leopoldius I have got;—and one Macrocera, a great catch for me, as I had never arrived at seeing the genus even in a collection. [illegible portion of text] Of Tachytrechus I have met 3 spp insignis, notatus and, a third with pale dilated [illegible text]. With regard to ----- I observe that Rondani appears, from his Prodromus, to have correctly known the insect of Meigen, as he attributes to it spiny hind metatarsus. I have not met with it; but I suppose I say look for it, since Bellardi has taken it in Piedmont also, and I saw it in M. Bigot’s [14] collection too. I suppose I have got here the Gymnopternus called regalis, but the wings are not broad, and the brown cloud even in [illegible text]
Monte Bonelli. Lucca. Nov. 5-14 1862 My dear Dr Loew Your last letter gave me much satisfaction, so far as it informed me that it was not illness which had caused your silence, as I had begun to apprehend,—along with concern for the actual troubles which have so much engaged your time and thoughts, and have concurred to prevent your projected visit to Vienna, at this time. As my intention of going thither was principally inspired by that expectation, I gave it up wholly, on hearing from you to this effect, but hope that a meeting, either there or elsewhere, may take place, next year, between us. I have since I heard from you, had the painful intelligence of my oldest and best friend among naturalists, Curtis’ [15] death. The few last years have sadly thinned my last old friends. J. C. had been reduced to great prostration in the summer by a long continued and extreme access of indigestion, but had begun to rally, as he wrote to me, a short time before the sad event, by another’s hand, so that I indulged the fond hope of finding him again, when I should return to London. I am glad that, after so much delay, his book of Farm insects has reached you,and that you take kindly the simple expression of at least my sincere judgment; from which too, I believe, no one interested in the subject would dissent. That your own aspirations leave you unsatisfied with past achievements may very well be; and I hope, from this, and under favour of providence in respect of your health & domestic circumstances, that you will be able to carry out much more of what you have proposed to yourself. Many thanks for the specimens of insects, you enclosed in compliance with my desire. They came safe; only one Gymnopa has lost its head, which I might probably have recovered, if I had opened the cylinder with more precaution against the falling out of any loose particle. But this partial mutilation was of no moment to my object. The little Hydrellinum is quite new to me, and as I think, is irreducible to any of the established genera of that tribe. Here the Dolichopidae have had no autumnal appearance, as I hoped they might. Since the heavy rains of October, (which almost cut us off from access to the outer world), Ephydrinae have appeared in greater number but in small variety. Of Ephydra pr. I have met but four individuals; two taken at Lake Bilancino [16] (ten miles English from this), and two recently in the bed of the Serchio subsiding from the floods. On the whole, looking at what I have got this summer, I am tempted to conclude that the Luccese affords less variety of Diptera, and fewer conspicuous species, than my own home in the north of Ireland! However, this has been a peculiar season as to weather, and a very unfavourable one for Coleoptera, as Ghiliani [17] tells me. Bellardi has been so much engaged, for some time, on a Zoological Atlas, under the sanction of government, that he has sent me but a few & brief scraps for letters, and was unable to make a visit here this year, as I had asked him to do. I have not heard of his having received the packet from you which you announced. When your letter reached me, it seemed too late for me to reply before the time fixed for its despatch. I have waited,therefore, till I could write with more leisure, and touch on some points & questions of Dipterology. I have not heard anything since from Rondani, [18] to whom I wrote (as I told you before) from Turin, [19] with reference to a visit and view of his Dolichopidae in particular. In case he is unable (as, he intimated to me, was probable) to continue his Prodromus [20], I would be very desirous to see Bellardi leave his Exotic Diptera, for those of Italy, with the accession of Rondani’s materials, in addition to his own fine Piedmontese collection. I do not suppose the work would suffer by the change. I am sorry to have to conclude, from the specimens I saw with Bellardi, of Rondani’s communication, that the latter in his scientific zeal, is not careful enough of the preservation of his materials. He himself intimates in his second paper on bertei, that the decay of the single specimen was his inducement for enlarging the description, while the means remained. I have lately got a few more books dispatched out here, among them Osten Sacken's [21]on N. American Limnobiae & which I had not seen before. Where is he now? My wished for visit to the caves of “Vergemoli Alps” [22] has failed, or at least is postponed till so late a time, that I can scarcely hope to find Spelaeophila in the depths. I was first of all disabled by a foot and an eye simultaneously; and when this was nearly passed, and I had got my letters &c for the Vergemoli, I have been freshly cramped by a fall from a carriage, consequent on an assault made, in open day & on the public road by a rough countryman, who must, I think, have been heated by wine. A lady was in the carriage with me, but fortunately was unharmed, —but I find myself as yet not sufficiently pliable for creeping through subterranean passages, remembering the experience of the Mitchelstown caves in Ireland; in which my companion Dr Wright & I could find no peculiar animal life, except - . I see the Pyrenees have lately been yielding their quota to the cavern Fauna, and the Italian caves should not be sterile,though I could find nothing in the dark recesses of the dripping grotto of Cavallone [23] but an - Limnobia, and a Dixa. Before arranging Bellardi’s Dolichopidae for him, I hope to have a few more of my books, now at sea; but I believe there will be found among them more things new, than I had anticipated. He has 1 - , and many of the now Liancalus of the Alps, as well as of the 3rd species of the bipunctate group of Hydrophorus,—of which I took two specimens on the borders of a small lake at a considerable elevation among the secondary ranges of the Monte Rosa [24] group. In this species no part of the face is metallic-glossy. My new Tachytrechus—here exceedingly rare, & only found by me on one arid st one hill top, is not among his collections.I have got one specimen (only) of Anopheles pictus Lw., agreeing with the description of female except that the penultimate joint of the hind tarsus is wholly of the blue pale colour as the articulations of the other joints;but this is scarcely a discrepancy, as the last joint alone of the hind tarsus is describedas dark in colour. The fore femora are attenuated, as in the female; the palpi and proboscis appear much thicker than in the other species of the genus (A. bifurcatus & A. maculipenius occurring here)—from the thick clothing of scales, the articulations like those of the legs marked with a pale spot. Of Phlebotomus I have seen but 2 specimens, both of which solicited my attention by their puncture of my hand; but they escape with much more agility than a Culex does. Sycorax also occurs, but I have not seen a Trichomyia. With regard to geographical distribution it may perhaps not be tedious to you, if I jot down a few disconnected notes. Psilopa apicalis is common (“France, Germany”). The Philygria, with the exception of Ph. picta, very rare in the low grounds, but become more common in ascending the Apennines, as well towards the Alps. Curtonotum gibbani (Perris,- ) rare here, & near Turin. Sciodromia immaculata. Ardoptera guttata (not oculata) I see scarcely any of the Chrysoti which we have in the North; but instead, a group with very minutely pubescent eyes & usually a sapphire blue gloss. (I suppose Chr. suavis is one of them); the most remarkable, a species with black legs,—the hind tibiae densely ciliated with broadened hairs, like some ---. In looking over your review of Walker’s Dipt. Brit. it occurred to me to ask you the grounds for preferring the Orthography Theressa. Of course the like change would affect Choleva, Lesteva and the like—I cannot recall (without book) any exactly parallel case in classic authorities; but the nearest to it are the other way e.g. Evander (a decisive instance on account of the prosody)—Evadne, Eva, Evans, Evoe, etc, etc [letter ends]
Septr. 6th 1862 Dear Dr Loew The advance of time, and the slowness of the Post between Italy, & Germany, makes me fear that if I do not write, without waiting to hear from you of your return to Meseritz, I may have the intelligence of your intended movements inOctober, (time of visit to Vienna, &c) too late to make it available for my direction, if a visit to Vienna on my part should be practicable. Pray give me therefore, by the earliest opportunity, as precise data as you can, for my direction on these points. I should be anxious to obtain some compensation, by a meeting in that city, for the disappointment regarding our projected excursion in the Alps. I had expected to be out this week, for a few days, consecutively, in the Apennines, (alone —as a young Italian, who has collected the Coleoptera of the Bagni district, & was willing to have joined me, has been forbidden by medical authority)—but the weather has broken completely, so that an invasion of the mountains is not to be thought of, until the sky settles again, which it is not likely to do for some days yet. I may also have a ride across the Apian Alps, at the end of the month, with some of my Irish friends, to pass through the Monte Torato, the distant view of which from the Monte Regatese Alp struck me so much, and to visit some of the natural caves, which abound in that calcareous range of mountains. But before leaving home for a time, I should wish to have settled my plans as to a longer journey. I expect my brother, who has retired from military service, will be coming out to Italy next month; and I may be able to fall in with his route from Paris somewhere. Since I came home, I have found correspondence in arrear, to be discharged, friends visited &c, so that I have collected little, except just about this place. One excursion I made, 5 from his house, & 5 from the Bagni, meeting with horses & guides, at an intermediate point,to ascend the Bargiglio [25], a mountain commanding a very extensive view, & crowned with the ruins of an old tower, one of about 30 which were in communication, of yore, on the frontier between the Lucchese& Modenese. On the ascent of the hill, above the limit of the chesnut [sic], I met, for the first time among these hills, the elm, in any plenty, mixed with oaks &c. I saw little insect-life after the great heat; but in the chesnut [sic] woods, under fallen leaves, I got a very few grown specimens of the interesting new Neuropterous genus, apterous and allied to Campodea ambulans, but with the forceps of a Forpicula. Since the rains commenced, some of the Spring insects begin to happen, but on the whole I have seen very little variety of Diptera, and very few of any larger species. Among the minute Hymenoptera I have got a few things. You asked me if I had found no more than one sp. of Haltericerus. I have both impar & encerus; the latter one female, nearly ruined (with most other Diptera of any singularity) by mould ;- Dolichopidae are now nearly extinct & Hydromyzida continue very few.One pretty little Scatella I found, ( a single specimen) in the channel of the Serchio, distinguished by a thick black horny plate as a dilation of the costal vein in its humeral segment. Among the species of Oscinis & Siphonella I have found one which answers pretty well to the characters of Homalura, by the overhanging front, the colours also similar to W. tarsata, but the abdomen that of Oscenia, the puncturation too fine & the size too small, for that species. Still it is an approach. It seems, from what Schiner says Zool. Bot.Vier.Wien 1852 Dipt. Fragmente p. 2/3 that the Homalura is extant at Vienna (the Royal Museum): I presume, therefore, that it cannot be as you were inclined to conjecture, Gymnopa glaba. Pray keep for me, when we meet, or when parcels become transmissible,—authentic specimens of Gymnopa subsultans (or other sp.), and Phyllomyza securicornis. I cannot find here some of the common species of the Diptera of the North, which I want for comparison. I am in hopes of soon getting out here a very few of my entomological books, as at present I have no access to any useful library for collation. I shall then be able to determine whether (which, however, I do not much doubt,) I have not got quite a new genus of that well-worked family Curculionidae. As I have experienced on a former occasion the slowness of the post to I from [lost text]… its length or for the chance of hearing from you soon. Pray do not forget the books which should have reached you from London—Curtis Farm Insects and list of works on like subject in Mortons Cyclopedia of Agriculture. I have named them in writing to Williams & Norgate but could not tell them positively that they had never been delivered up to the time of my writing. I expect to hear from Bellardi again in a few days, and perhaps in the meantime, he may have had some communication with you. I was almost sorry to see such a fine collection of Diptera from the Philippine isles with him and to hear that he expected further consignments—lest these may turn him away from the nature Diptera which await his leisure to be deliberately examined & supplemented, as he has not collected the smaller Muscidae with equal diligence. At present in addition to his other usual occupations he is engaged on some geographical works in connection with the public school system . I hope sincerely you will be able to give a good account of your own health since your return home and that you will find leisure to write me an early programme for your movements for October. If I go to Vienna I shall of course wish to remain long enough for a deliberate survey of collections there. Believe me very truly yours. Alex H. Haliday.
I conclude that in the present critical struggle for constitutional rule, you will probably have your attention much engaged thereabout. I shall not wonder therefore if you do not find time for much correspondence on other subjects, which can wait their time. But I shall at all times be desirous to hear from you: and although I do not contemplate remaining here all the winter, a letter addressed to Lucca will be always in the right way to reach me. My brother’s departure from England is postponed for the present, I hope not for long: and when he goes to Florence, I intend joining him there. His principal object however is Rome, whither I do not think of going till towards Spring, and probably first to Naples,hoping subsequently to meet Dohrn[26] & Stainton at Rome, and see some of the environs in company. It will go hard, I think, but we make some sort of incursion into the Campagna, before the Malaria of summer sets in. Hitherto, the weather here has been almost preternaturally mild, but also wet, great floods, I have been turned back by a broad & rapid river on the road to Lucca (2 miles), and obliged to go round above 8 miles, to reach the town. There are consequently apprehensions of a possible sudden change to frost, which would harm the olives, now bowed down with fruit. I have been rather surprised not once to to have met with the Dacus alcae, whose ravages are but too extensive in ordinary years, and which should be coming out of the pupa this month. Neither have I yet met with any Thrips attached to that tree, such as Passerini has indicated, without describing it, as having been a scourge to the province of Pietrasanta in former years. I have just received the 8th part of Dr Schiner’s[27] Austrian Diptera. I had hoped (from his former communications), to have found in it a more original and remodelled arrangement of the Anthomyii; to which I once devoted some time & attention, but was diverted from pursuing the study by want of materials in my own collection. In his preface to the 1st volume (concluded), he names Winnertz [28] as among his correspondents. Do you know if he continues to devote any attention to Diptera? His Monograph of Mycetophilidae, on which he was at work, when I visited him in 1855, has slept so long, that I doubted he had retired from the field. I wrote to him, a little while before I left London, but have not heard from him since, and in consequence have no intelligence through him either of Föster, [29] who was always a slack correspondent, and who is now, I have heard, in worse health; so that I have little hope of hearing from himself; though I may be tempted to try another letter. I intend to reserve the best of my space for some desultory notes & questions about species.
On my return from an excursion to the Vergemoli and the marble cave of Corchia,[30] I have found your letter of 13th awaiting me, which is a reproof to me for having been so long over this desultory epistle. I had not got my microscope (which had suffered by the dampness of the air here,—like my summer gatherings of Diptera)—into working order for making some examination, the result of which I wished to communicate in this letter;—and two families of friends, having been on a visit here, have occupied my time much of late. Now, I shall delay no longer, than to await a reply from Bellardi, to whom Iwrote after I got your letter, respecting the parcel despatched to Turin, as you mention, through Leipzig. His last hurried note conveyed the promise of an early and fuller communication. At present, he is probably occupied with the opening of the University session. I have heard no more of or from Rondani; since I wrote to him from Turin, on my way back from Monte Rosa. His 4th vol. is prefaced with a list of alterations of generic nomenclature, derived from a collation of Agassiz [31]Nomenclator;—not all of them very happy etymologically,—and with some inconsistencies in the application of rules,—thus hedefends Acanthipodus“saltem senitu differt ab Acanthipodus Lacss., et quae similia sunt non sunt aequalia, et quae non aequalia non mutanda, alioquin fere totam nomenclaturam zoologicam renovare oportetet.” (but he erroneously makes Gymnopternus its synonym); and a few pages after, he rejects Hydrellia, for its likeness to Hydrelia Hübn. It is true that it is difficult to draw the line in such cases; or to keep to one measure & latitude. Of course, the peculiarly Italian and perverse interchange of L and Y, th and t, ch and c, occurs very often in this list of generic names. My visit to the really beautiful cave, of white statuary marble & Stalactites, in the Monte Corchia, was quite unproductive of insects, as well as of Chiroptera, which at other seasons of the year have been observed there. Professor Savi, who has explored these Alps, their geology and botany, very diligently, encouraged me, with the assurance of finding insects in the interior; but the very late period of the year, to which I had been forced to defer my visit, may sufficiently account for my failure, without the assumption that insect life is wanting, there, at a more favourable season. I found the most kindly welcome from the Cavre Simi, the proprietor of the Monte Corchia; and visited the cave, and points of interest in the neighbouring mountains, in the company of his second son Emilio; who has explored every mile of the Apinan Alps, and is the author of some detailed and interesting treatises on their history, geology, mining works, and Botany. I stayed two days at his summer residence at Levigliani, on the mountain; and left them with a pressing invitation to return in summer, & see more of the Alps, and their rich flora. I got a near view (about 1½ mile English) … [letter ends] ?
… distant to a natural phenomenon, which had before excited my curiosity much, in a more distant view, from the other side. i.e. from the summit of the Alps of Montefegatesi in the Tuscan Apennines. The summit of one of the bare & rugged mountains—3900 feet English—(“Monte Forato[32]”, a spur of the “Petra Apuana”, now Pietra Parria) is pierced by a natural tunnel, in one view as symmetrically semicircular as any work of art, and which is estimated at between 150 and 180 feet in height, leaving a gigantic bridge for the mountain crest. I was discouraged from attempting to approach it nearer, at this season, by the rugged aspect of the mountain, and the account given me of the difficulty of the passage. This, I think, will be my last mountain walk for this year; and I was most fortunate in having such weather, a clear sky & transparent atmosphere, and sufficiently mild temperature, to afford a grateful glow in walking, except just on the mountain ridge. Scabiosa holosericea (new to me) was in flower abundantly on the mountains, with Dianthus monspessulanus, Helianthemum croceum &c: and lower down the Lemon-thyme, & Myrtles at once in flower & ripe berry. Here also, at Monte Bonelli, the Lavandula stoechas is clothing the rocky hills with a second growth of glaucous leaves, crowned (pretty extensively)by opening spikes of flowers. I find Chrysomela americana to be appropriated to this plant here, though H Burmeister [33] found it on Rosmarinus in Lombardy; on which plant I have not once taken it here,though I searched for it there frequently. On the Stoechas both the lava & perfect insect were common enough in the early summer, and have reappeared sparingly since the autumnal rains. Reverting to Rondani’s nomenclature, and to the rules promulgated by the Dresden Meeting of Entomologists, which I have not at hand to consult, let me ask if you are acquainted with a set of rules (few), and recommendations, framed by a committee of Zoologists appointed, for the purpose; by the Council of the British Scientific Association in the beginning of 1842, [34] and presented at the (Manchester) Annual Meeting of the Association, in the Autumn of that year, and printed in the Annual Report. These at least were more deliberately considered; and promulgated with more show of authority than the Dresden Code. I intend sending them to Dohra, who was concerned with the adoption of that Code, if he is not acquainted with them already, in case he may think fit to republish them in the Stettin [35] journal, translated, with or without commentary; and have procured a copy from London, for that purpose, which I would transcribe for you, if time & space allowed. I have quite satisfied myself that the apterous insect with theforceps of a Forficula, which I find here in the like situations with Embia Scorpio pisanus Rossi, Campodea ambulans , is closely allied to this last; though generically distinct; the two together constituting (if not a family, - at least) a marked section of the fam. Lepismidae, and forming a link with the Labidura strips of Neuroptera; as the typical section, with the abdominal segments all appendiculate, does with the “Pseudo-Neuroptera” (Perla &c).This is an interesting item to add to the evidence in favour of reducing that group (Thysanura) into subordination to the Neuroptera; which some Entomologists seem as yet unwilling to assent to. I have not yet heard from Kiesenwetter[36] , whether my tentative new genus of Curculionidae will stand. Indeed I never can feel sanguine about insect specimens travelling safely by the Post in Italy. This alone prevents mesending back your brazen cylinder, enclosing a pair of Tachytrechus lucumo n. sp. (not very good specimens, I am sorry to say), and Chrysotus pennipes n.sp. I look forward with hope to meeting you next year; and may possibly meet some one, meantime, going to Leipzig, or Vienna, if you will indicate to me a safe depository for you in those places, (or in Paris, more available from this place.) Tachytrechus insignis appears to be Italian as well as Meridionale. Mr Dale [37] sent me some time ago, photographs, done at a country town near his place, of insects mostly Diptera, many on one sheet. I could recognise most of the species, though I should not venture to pronounce one new, in most cases, on such evidence; but it seems that a good use of photography might be made, in this way, in respect to unique or rare specimens. Has the art been applied so with you? I think you intended to use it in the wings of the Tephritini. Do you remember my asking you once, about the distinction between the Calypteri & Acalypteri(Muscidae) resting on the continuity or discontinuity of the suture of the Mesonotum, (which I did not recollect to have been already seized by Meigen). I was surprized to observe, lately, an exception as to Micropeza, but have no materials to determine how far this extends to the cognate genera. Some of the groups which have most general similitude to Siphona, (I observe), partake of its character, obliteration, not interruption, of that suture. Parydra aquila (?) here never attains the largest size of British specimens; I have not the materials for comparison, especially fem; that here = P. australis = Nov 22nd The Pania [38] , Corchia &c are covered with snow. I was fortunate in seizing the very nick of time for my visit. Yesterday , I swept the bushes in my afternoon walk, after a sharp frost. Besides the unfailing winter, Psychodae, Trichocerae, Chironomae, Mycetophilae, Crassisetae, Tephrites, Annophilae, Scatophagae, Culex, Anophales, Musca, Rhyphus,Asteja, Sciara, —occurred Syrphus balleatus, Melithreptus—, Helomyza tigrina, Chloropa—, Oscinis—, Anthmiidae—, Stomoxys, Pericoma, Scophila, Erioptera, Limniophila, Ceratopogon,Phoridae, Agromyza, Geomyza, Lauscania, Scatella and insects of all other orders; the Coleoptera limited to Halticidae & Protinus:- Lepidoptera to Agrotis, Phycite, - of Neuroptera onlyPsocus and Thysanura; various Hemiptera & Hymenoptera. I might doubtless have increased the list, if I had prolonged my walk, and searched in other situations. I have not the Linnaea, to determine thespecies of a Dilophus common here, for a month, after the autumn equinox; by the colour of female, analogous to the autumnal Bibio clavipes. Do you know the sp.? I had intended sending you resultsof microscopic observation on Arista of Anthomyza impar - , but cannot find it in any of my boxes; and having heard this morning, from Bellardi , I don't wish to defer longer the dispatch of my answer to your last.Your parcel had not come to his hands. When it reaches him, he will write direct to you. Believe me very sincerely yours Alex. H. Haliday Nov. 24 /6 2