WCP2077

[1]¹

Shoaygyeen —

Oct 26. 1866 —

A. R. Wallace Esq

D^r Sir.

Your letter² of the 1^st September reached me by the last mail — and I hasten to reply to it.

On or about the 15 May I move out into the interior of the district and shall remain out incessantly moving until the middle of next May if nothing unforeseen occurs. During the whole of the time I shall be in a thickly wooded and mountainous country in wh. the temperature varies so much that in the northern frontier we have pine forests and violets the latter without smell however.

I fancy my best plan will be to go on steadily collecting and on my return here in May to send home the results of my [2] work —

I have also heard from a D^r Wallace³ from Colchester — who however is only intent on acclimatizing silk producing moths and whose views I shall be happy to forward as much as I can.

I have to thank you for your hints as to the best means of collecting, and I shall be most happy to accept your kind offer anent disposing of the insects. If I can collect and send home butterflies moths & beetles without putting myself to any great expense I shall be quite content.

During the rains i.e from May till Nov. I am always in Shoaygyeen and am then so tied down to Court and office work that I can but rarely get away even for a day. During the cold & hot seasons however my duties take me incessantly about and I am thus enabled to beat the whole country up as it were — and as my movements depend entirely on myself and I can halt or move on as I choose I trust that I may [3] be able to gradually get a very complete collection.

A great difficulty is in the absence of all Books. I know of none wh. is trustworthy and wh. gives any information anent Animals at all and more especially anent the Yonzaleen that portion of it in wh. my work lies just now.

I enclose my address — of any change in wh. I will keep you duly informed.

I fancy that Phytophaga and small Coleoptera are best send home in quill pens? –

Yours very truly | Horace Spearman⁴ [signature]