Ɛpsilon

WCP2918

Letter (WCP2918.2808)

[1]

BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY)

CROMWELL ROAD,

LONDON: S.W.

Nov. 25th 1908

Dear Dr. Wallace,

I can only give you very rough figures of the number of described insects

Hymenoptera 45,000 (estimated from De la Torre’s catalogue1)

Diptera 28,000

Lepidoptera 60,000

Neuroptera 5,000

Orthoptera 8,000

Coleoptera 120,000

Rhymchota 18,000

239,000

44

[2] These numbers differ a little from those given by Kirby2 in his 2nd Edition of his text book,3 but I think the numbers given above are about right —

Yours faithfully | Chas. O. Waterhouse4 [signature]

1
Catalogue not found.
2
Kirby, William (1759-1850), British priest and naturalist, working particularly in entomology.
3
Kirby, William & Spence, William. 1816. An introduction to entomology: or, Elements of the natural history of insects. 4 vols., 2nd Edition. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown.
4
Waterhouse, Charles Owen (1843-1917). British entomologist. Son of George Robert Waterhouse. Assistant Keeper at British Museum (Natural History) 1866-1910.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP2918.2808)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2015-04-09] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2015-04-09] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP2918,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2918