WCP4068

[1]

Notes for Mr. Foxcroft¹ from A[.] R. Wallace

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To Collect Insects successfully in the Tropics you must get close to or in the True virgin forest — If possible get a patch of forest cleared & a hut put up to live in — you will then get double the collections in the same time, on the Trees cut down & drying near your house you will get hosts of Longicorns & Curculios — As the bark rots, it will swarm with Carabi & Staphalinidae — On the bark of fallen trees in the sunshine Buprestidae, at night good things will come to a lamp, beat dead leaves assiduously, they produce good things especially when thick & damp — Rare Butterflies & variety of species can only be found in the forest paths — The very finest ground is where new roads or extensive clearings are being made through lofty forest — Seek out for such if possible & you will be well rewarded. If none such can be found, at all events have a few large trees cut down near your house — They will produce good things morning & evening & at spare times when you cannot go far, Palm tree flowers & the sap of the toddy palm, attract Celonias [sic] [Cetonias] & Lucani — Living trees produce nothing except larvae, it is useless to search on them — Under Stones & on sandy places & on bare ground, ^{little or} nothing, the forest is the place for every thing fine & swampy forest is generally the best especially on the slopes of mountains — From 9 am to 2 pm I find the best general collecting time — You would much oblige me by registering your captures daily & would find it interesting thus

June 1.	Coleoptera	Lep[idopter]a	Other Orders
	35 species	18 species	44 species

and at the end of each Month make a summary of the N^o of species collected in each family & order — Insects are seldom so abundant in the tropics as in England except just about & after the wet season. Four or five hours a day must be spent in diligent search & you will then be astonished at the new & fine things constantly turning up.

Hoping these notes the result of 8 years Tropical Collecting may be of use —

y[ou]rs truly| Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Ternate² Moluccas. Oct. 5^th 1858.

[2]³ Direct all cases ^if sent by Mail Steamer

M^r. S. Stevens.⁴

24 Bloomsbury Street.

London.

Care of

Mr J. Deal Jun[io]r.⁵

Custom House Agent	with great care
High Street
Southampton

(Direction for Collecting in the Tropics by A[.] R.Wallace

for M^r H. Squires[)]⁶