WCP2330

[1]

S. Scudder

Cambridge,

May 14, 1876

My dear Sir

I have delayed replying to your favour of April 12¹ until I could give you some sort of an answer — I fear you will be disappointed at the little aid I can render — I know almost nothing of — I may as well say absolutely nothing of the entomological fauna of the Pacific Islands — Indeed I am very confident that it is better known in England than here, for the British Museum at least has been the final resting place of many a collection from there — as witness M^r Butler’s² recent paper³ on the Lepidoptera of the South Seas &c[.]

The only information we have in America is through ^{the visits of} occasional [2] collectors in the Hawaiian Islands (which, by the way, those who visit them ^generally say should never be called the Sandwich Islands, lest they be confounded with two other Pacific islands of that name) and from such knowledge as we may obtain from american [sic] missionaries — They have only been however to the Hawaiian Islands and to Micronesia or the Caroline, Marshall and Kingsmill groups — your enquiry is concerning the Eastern islands — Should you also wish any information concerning the Micronesian [sic] islands, you would best address Rev. L. H. Gulick,⁴ Care Rev. D. C. Greene⁵ Yokohama Japan. He is a brother of the Gulick⁶ who gave some years ago in Nature an account⁷ of the distribution of the terrestrial mollusks in the Hawaiian Islands.

I do not know a single person in this country who can give you any information concerning the Society & Marquesas Islands or the Galapagos [3] based on personal experience excepting D^r Charles Pickering⁸ (11, Beacon St. Boston) who visited them or some of them while attached to Wilke’s⁹ exploring Exp. Whether Prof. J D Dana¹⁰ (N. Haven, Ct.) who was also attached to the expedition was in the vessel that visited these islands I do not recollect. the [sic] narrative of the voyage would show.

Nothing whatever has been published on the plants of these islands ^{as Dr Gray11 informs me} excepting one volume¹² of the Botany of Wilkes’ Expedition issued by the Government — An account of the flora of Guadalupe (off Lower California) is given in the 11^th volume of the Proceedings of the american [sic] academy (Boston) to be issued in just one fortnight — A general introduction to it you will find in the current volume of the American Naturalist for April —

Should you write M^r W^m T. Brigham¹³ (St. James Ave, Boston) I think he might give you some general information concerning the Hawaiian Islands — He spent about a year there making collections, mostly in Botany; He is not strictly speaking [4] a scientific man, but ought to assist you somewhat — Unfortunately my personal relations with him are not now of such a nature as to admit of my writing him in [sic] your behalf, or I would save you the trouble or delay.

I put your question concerning the humming birds to several parties, but can get no satisfactory answer — A slight consideration, however, will show that there is no great probability that of finding a flower fertilized exclusively by them. We have a large number of long-tongued Sphingidae wherever Humming Birds occur, and to answer the requirements there should be some flower with a long and slender tubular flower blossom, open only in broad daylight ¹⁴— D^r Gray suggested the trumpet-creeper, but that does not go close and M^r Gentry¹⁵ of Pennsylvania who has been studying the fertilization of flowers says that it is fertilized by species of Bombus as often as by Humming Birds. M^r Gentry says he [5] can give you ^{the names of} a number of flowers "often occasionally" fertilized by these birds.

To recur to what your request concerning the Galapagos I may remark that I have just written a paper on the geographical distribution of Vanessa cardui (taking ground that it originated in the new world) and hunted everywhere, but without success to find a record of its occurrence in the Galapagos — I do not recollect noticing a single mention of any butterfly on that island — D^r Edward Palmer,¹⁶ whose collection in Guadalupe formed the basis of Mr Watson’s article on the botany of that island, collected also insects as assiduously as [6] possible and sent me "the only butterfly found on the islands" which was Vanessa carye[.]

I have also been looking up the question of Vanessa cardui at the Hawaiian Islands and Tahiti while I can see no way of explaining the statement of their presence of this insect in the former, other than by careless transposition of labels in the British Museum years ago, it still seems to me very unlikely that it ever occurred there — The only other butterflies known on the islands are Vanessa Kammeamaea [Kamehameha] (indigenous speciation) andDanaida Plexippus (introduced from America)[.]

[7]

I take the liberty of sending you a copy of my paper on the distribution of the latter insect in the Pacific Ocean, and when it appears will send you that on V. cardui[.]

Regretting that I have been able to respond so poorly to your desire, I remain

Very faithfully yours | Sam. H. Scudder¹⁷ [signature]

A. R. Wallace Esq

P. S. I will also add another numberof "Psyche",¹⁸ containing Mr Jones¹⁹account of the introduction of Terias Lisa into the Bermudas.

Dr Palmer collected also four Orthoptera at Guadalupe — one that winged Gryllus, allied to G. Peruviana, and apparently indigenous, Acridium, found also on opposite coast, and [8] two species of Oedipodidae of the genus Trimerotropis, one found on the opposite coast, and the other not yet known from there but which I presume will be — For brief account of Diptera see Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XVIII, 133-4.²⁰ S. H. S.

Very many thanks for your Coute.