WCP693

Letter (WCP693.865)

[1]1

Wykeham Hou[se,]

Oxford.

July 4/1904

My dear Wallace,

I have read Fred Birch’s2 letter with usual interest but I admit [MS damaged] misgivings. I saw a tra[ce] of the same spirit <when> [MS damaged] he was here:- a fine [MS damaged] spirit but not practical or practicable in his position. He should <not> [MS damaged] think of writing as a [MS damaged] profession until [MS damaged] [2] [MS damaged] his way to some means [MS damaged] <of> collecting & this he seems [MS damaged] to dislike. He shewed [MS damaged] here somewhat but when I told him [MS damaged] the importance of collecting[?] some[?] hundreds of a quite [MS damaged] thing on one day in [MS damaged] order to make out the [MS damaged] average[?] of variation. Writing needs special [MS damaged] <education>, special aptitude, [MS damaged] — most of all — the ear[?] <of the> [MS damaged] public.

[3]

Now for a few hints.

Tin boxes are very dangerous unless the insects are absolutely dry. Card or cedar cigar boxes are much better. <I> [MS damaged] had things ruined even in Canada by mould in tin boxes. You see it confines any moisture remaining in the <body> [MS damaged] & makes a damp atmospher[e] [MS damaged] in which the mould grows. Beetles I have killed in <a> [MS damaged] cyanide bottle; or in laur[el] [MS damaged] leaves3. Spirit & [MS damaged] <I> should think [MS damaged] [4] climate where damp & mould are the things to be feared. Beetles can be [MS damaged] packed[?] in sawdust in boxes [MS damaged] with scale naphthalene4 intermixed. [MS damaged] [1 word illeg.] cab carbolised saw-dust can be obtained. A [MS damaged] good deal could be done by lamps or stoves[?] in the way of drying. I think it is the custom in such a climate [MS damaged] as to setting of course [MS damaged] specimens fetch more [MS damaged] commission5 [5]6 I presume would be the [MS damaged] I think decided for [1 word illeg.] that [MS damaged] man[?] in the field into would [MS damaged] make more by not setting [MS damaged] as this takes a long time [MS damaged] would often set common [MS damaged] he would not know to be [MS damaged] It is quite customary to [MS damaged] moths[?] to send them home [MS damaged] into peat or pith about ¾ [MS damaged] in[ch] thick — the long pins <go> [MS damaged] through this to the wood. [MS damaged] Smith7 a very fine <S[outh]. Am[erican] collector sends all his [MS damaged] home that way[?] [MS damaged] [6] [MS damaged] beautifully. I think the [MS damaged] Orthoptera8 were done rightly. [MS damaged] but they should have been [MS damaged] put in a wood box & not a tin one. The moisture in their bodies would last months [MS damaged] <even> in a dryish place. I have now answered all [MS damaged] all the points. You know [MS damaged] how little is paid for [MS damaged] these things — except when [MS damaged] new big & striking[?] [MS damaged] takes the fancy of [7] rich collectors —, so [MS damaged] F[red]. Birch’s only chance is to catch large numbers9.

[8]10,11

[MS damaged] for the purpose simply [MS damaged] one of the chapters of [MS damaged] for autobiography

1
This letter has been damaged, perhaps by fire, causing some loss of text at the outer edge of the pages, but has been repaired and mounted on plain paper. The stamp of the B[ritish] M[useum] N[atural] H[istory] Entomology Library and the repository reference number "39" appear here.
2
Birch, Frederick R. ("Fred") (1877-?). Born in Wavertree, Liverpool, he apparently met ARW some time in 1897. He set off on a largely unsuccessful expedition to Trinidad in 1904 and travelled to New Hampshire in 1906. In 1907 he emigrated with his wife to Brazil, where he worked as a professional collector of natural history specimens. They returned to England in 1913.
3
Crushed leaves of the laurel Prunus laurocerasus produce cyanide. The poison can be used by entomologists as a way of killing insect specimens without physical damage.
4
Naphthalene ("moth balls") was used as a chemical barrier to prevent pests entering dry collection storage.
5
A reference number "418448 (2)" appears here.
6
The repository reference number "39" appears here.
7
Not identified.
8
Order of insects which includes the grasshoppers, crickets and locusts.
9
The original page has been cut across here; the rest is missing.
10
The original page has been cut across below the three lines of text struck through; the rest is missing. The reference number "418448 (2)" is repeated here.
11
The author’s details are missing, but recorded as Poulton, Edward Bagnall (1856-1943) British evolutionary biologist, friend of ARW and lifelong advocate of natural selection.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP693.865)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2018-08-15]

Please cite as “WCP693,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP693