WCP6045

[1]¹

British Museum (Natural History),

Cromwell Road,

London, S.W.

18^th January 1915

Dear Madam,

In the collection of birds made by the late Dr A. R. Wallace at Dorey, in N.W. Geelurick[?] Bay, New Guinea in 1858 there was a small flycatcher (Entomophila spilodera, G. R. Gray) collected and numbered 49 ♀[.]

No doubt D^r. Wallace's journal of 1858 contains exact particulars concerning this specimen which are not recorded on the label.

On various occasions during D^r. Wallace's lifetime I wrote to him seeking information on similar [2] points and in consequence he was able to supply me from his journals with exact and most valuable information, which would otherwise have remained unpublished and lost sight of. As you are no doubt aware the British Museum processes the greater number of the birds collected by D^r. Wallace in the Malay Archipelago. Nearly all of these bear numbers referring to entries in his journals and if it was possible to have access to these Mss. volumes and make extracts, the scientific value of our specimens would be enormously [3] increased.

Would it be possible for you to place these journals in my hands for a time? I need hardly say they would be treated reverently and the very greatest care would be taken of them[.]

The extracts might be published, with your permission, and they would certainly be of great value to all Ornithologists[.]

Yours faithfully, | W. R. Ogilvie Grant [signature].