Letters from Alexander Henry Haliday to Hermann Loew February 1862, 7 March 1862, 1 April 1862 and undated
Hotel dl’Empire 1862.2.9 Dear Dr Loew It gave me much pleasure to see your handwriting (well known) on the superscription of a letter to me at the Museum on my arrival thereon Saturday for a second day’s inspection. I left London with my friends on Tuesday morning, reached Amiens that evening, spent the next day with Dr Dours [1] (Hymenopterologist) & reached Paris by 11 PM. The next day, I called on Dr Sichel [2] —then, of course, to the Museum[3] —the next day at Dr Sichel’s (Hymenopterologist) Saturday again at Museum. The part of Meigen’s [4] collection to which I confined my attention (Muscidae Acalypt) is in sufficiently bad condition—and the species represented few beyond all my previous suppositions. It is evident that he derived more from G. Winthem’s [5] & Wiedemann’s [6] collection(??) than from his own: or that the duplicates, of which his heirs disposed to Mr Winnertz [7] included a material part of the whole. Yet even the little remaining, I found to take much timeto muster & survey; the more so from this imperfect condition. I first went through Helomyza + Heteromyza with your tables then Ephydra + Hydrellia hastily. The results I have copied out for you expecting to set out tomorrow. At present however, the aspect of the weather snow & frost & the health of one of my friends induces us to pause for one, or for two days, before we prepare to encounter Mont Cenis [8]. I shall therefore, I expect, have one more morning at Museum—& probably something to add. I have not had a sight of Mr Bigot [9]till this afternoon. I had written a fortnight since, but had no reply—soconcluded he was out of the town; which his friends also thought probable. But my letter had not reached him—by which we were disappointed of much converse. I must be content now to defer this pleasure, and others, till the distant term of a future visit to Paris, and a longer stay there. I feel much obliged by the effort you made, under the instant pressure of business, to write to me as you have done. I am glad to know the Discomyza arrived safe. Finding that the volume of Curtis’[10] Farm Insects might go, with little delay, & more safely, through my booksellers than by post, I have entrusted it to them and hope it will reach their correspondent in Leipzig this week, & you speedily. If not, pray signify the non-receipt to me, or to them (Williams & Norgate, 14 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London W.C.). I shall receive with real gratification the present, you propose for me, of your S. African Dipt. I look forward with pleasure too to finding a letter in Bellardi’s [11] care at Turin. I expect to find his collection of Piedmontese Diptera very interesting. Of course his attention must have been divided by the Mexican but he has been collecting the Diptera long enough to furnish a good provincial collection. Here I must conclude. Ever yours sincerely Alex H. Haliday.
Mr Bigot has got from Corsica the most remarkable Nemocerous Dipteron I have yet seen (as to venation(??)
… Platygaster of Haemapota, which you specify, would be interesting. I know the common parasite of Ephydra riparia viz. Urolepis maritimus (Walker), subsequently described by V. Heydn, [12] I think, as Pteromalus valimus. On the borders of freshwater pools, (where, as always in Britain, so far as I know, E. micans replaces that species) I have found another Urolepis, which, therefore, I conclude to be the parasite of that sp. of Ephydra. Do you know a parasite of Lipara lucens etc? I can form no opinion about Therina femoralis, —the nearest approach to it I know, is, if I remember right, as to form of hypostoma etc Chlorops lateralis. Of Homalura tarsata I have still less notion:—from the figure (I think) I guessed it to belong to the same group Oscinim; but I have no opportunity to refresh my recollection of it from the book, or to compare it with Gymnopa glabra.
1862.4.1 Since I began to write, I have had so little opportunity for further acquaintance with the Entomological qualities of this neighbourhood, that I have waited to complete it for a more favourable season, which has not yet arrived. In this bowl among mountains the rains fall with a persistence & abundance unknown in the British islands; but when the wants of the soil are satisfied from above, I look for a more steady continuance of fine weather in the like proportion. I have not yet made a visit to the Baths of Lucca [13] our intended residence for May & June, or most of those 2 months. Meanwhile vegetation is advancing in the lower grounds, the Plantain on the ramparts, the Chestnut trees & Figs beginning to expand their buds. Peach trees which are largely cultivated as well asother fruit trees are in rich bloom, and the olives here & there are opening. The Diptera are still so few that my attention has not been quite withdrawn from other orders. I have been interested by finding Embia [14] wingless as yet as well as a Termes. Scorpions abundant (S. pisanus) but as yet so sluggish that it is not alarming to turn up a stone with two or three under it even with the naked hand . I have fallen in with Orphnephila, testacea or tarda (you will be able to tell from a sketch of the anterior wing veins?) the 3 specimens I got were females but I have observed a place where it is likely to occur and expect to find the male. No Dolichopidae yet except Syntormon pallipes : not much variety of Hydromyzidae , Ochthera mantis only not mantispa.No Hydrellia except griseola ---- only picta . Pelecocera latifrons I fond one- a genus before never seen by me alive.L d’ Albertis’ [15] collection is so deficient in small Coleoptera (except Brachyelyptra) that I was interested in observing whether they are really comparatively deficient here—which so far does not seem to be the case. He had not one Pselaphid—I have got Pselaphus1 spp. Trimium 1. Euplectus 1. Byraxis 4 Bythinus 1. The spiders, & Podurae strike me as differing much from those of Ireland. The number & variety ofFormicidae is great—but, I believe, Mayr [16] has been supplied with collections of this family from Tuscany. I have had a letter from Bellardi [17] since I commenced this. The illness of his father, & family affairs, had compelled his absence from Turin. As yet he says nothing of his determination about visiting London for the Exhibition of Industry [18] , and defers any arrangement as to the time for an Alpine excursion till a later period. I shall always have in view the pleasant hope of our combining our plans for a meeting somewhere above this lower region. The rains we have been luxuriating in, here at Lucca, and in the Tuscan Maremma, [19] have evidently been crystallized higher up, as the visible range of the Apennines (“Apian (sic) Alps[20] of Bertolini [21]) is whitened more largely and clearly than was the case a fortnight since I long for a nearer view of them; and if these rains were once ceased, I expect a visit here from a relation, who lived many summers at the Baths, & intends to revisit them with me. About five miles from them lies a mountain dell the name of which “Prato fiorito’’awakens expectations of Botanical and cosequently Entomological riches . The former are very tempting even to me a debutante in the Science and my vasculum [22] sometimes receives specimens of plants instead of insect boxes The pretty Iris tuberosa has just just ceased flowering on the ramparts; and there, & on the slope of the river embankments, the Ophrys aranifera is thickly sprinkled. My friends brought me specimensof Tulipa montanus , by the colours of which they were attracted in an old olive-yard on the hills. These, & one place near Florence, are the only localities I have recorded for this sp. in my Botanical book- companion. I find the want of books & scientific chat now that the weather interrupts all but “constitutional” walks & hope to hear in your next letter that the volume of Farm insects by Curtis has reached you.I am disappointed not to find here anyone who takes an interest in this application of science since Passerini [23] is deceased & A. Costa [24] engrossed by Professional duties. Ghiliani’s [25] health concurs with his attendance at the Museum of Turin to prevent his pursuing the study as before. I must not forget to thank you for the extract relating to Orphnephila. Not having a specimen of the P. testacea & the differences being comparative, I subjoin a sketch of part of the wing veins of one taken here for your judgement. My address till the end of April will be as given above—or else (and at all times while I continue in Italy) San Concordia, Lucca. When I write next & hope to be able to say more of the promise of the summer here, as well as of the plan of journey for the midsummer chase among the mountains I have begun to exercise myself a little in climbing small & gentle activities, but am not yet in good training for such work—believe me
Lucca My dear Dr Loew 1862.3.7 I was delighted to receive your letter, this evening, on my return from a day’s sailing & exploring on the seashore near Pisa [26]. I have had but one letter, besides my brothers’ from England even, since I left Paris; andthe more than due proportion of wet weather since I have been in Tuscany gives me the more time to wish for information of my friends. We are now established in a house, for two months, in the town of Lucca; so that till the end of April my address will be ___ Casa Pelosi, Via Pta S. Pietro, Lucca. By the end of that time, we shall probably move up to the Bagni (Baths) di Lucca, or di Corseno, higher among the hills; or I may make an excursion somewhere, —to Elba;—Venice, or Trieste by that. We remained six days at Pisa, the days of departure I spent in a trip by Railway to Viareggio, the sea port of the Lucchese territory. The hours of trains were so arranged that I had but a couple of hours to look about me & find the nature of the coast. I made another fruitless attempt, from this, to visit the sea coast between the mouths of the Arno & the Sechio; a locality where the greatest part of d’ Albertis’ Coleoptera were collected:—rain turned me back. This morning, being an interval of dry weather, —but a sharp hoar frost, I went again to Pisa by an early train, & walked on to the sea coast where I spent the middle of the day. But on the sands all the - plants were still withered & dry, & there was nothing to be had almost, except under the marine rejectamenta & not much there, chiefly minute things. However the vegetation as well as animal life, is more forward that it would be at this same season in England, except in some favoured spots of the Southern coast. In the windows of the Railway station were 2 Macroglossa stellatarum [27] Atalanta & Cardui (Vanessa) were on the wing—Locustae flitting and leaping on the sands. Formicidae ubiquitous; wingless Blattae—Spiders of many kinds. Of Diptera (unless Limosinae were searched for in appropriate situations) the only one abundant was Drapetis arcuata on the sands, this everywhere. The last part of February I found among the marshy meadows at the foot of the city walls. Dichaeta caudata, or rather D. -- (6 setae on-- ), Hydrellia griseola, Syntormon pallipes, Limnobia—, Symplecta stictica Stomoxys calictrans is common & troublesome—but few Simulia & fewer Culices—not many Chironomi—& one-- To come to your letter, it was an omission that I did not explain (as I intended) the apparent enumeration of four species of Oecothea in the British lists. (Curtis’ Guide, & Westwood’s Classification) [28] [29]. I first characterized Oecothea & gave fenetralis as the type in Ann. Nat. Hist. Curtis, retaining the order of Species of Helomyza (in the first edition of his guide,) when he published a 2nd, inserted the generic name Oecothea above the sp. fenestralis, which then was followed by 2 more, before another Generic name occurred. I sent for Westwood an enumeration of the genera (& probably one or more types of each) in the subdivisions I proposed, of the Muscidae Acalypteri; which he combined, & modified, with the existent lists, & hence several erroneous results, repetition & inconsistencies. I know but 1 Oecothea. I am surprised as well as you, about Gymnopterus regalis [regalis Meigen, 1824: 75] I cannot be mistaken (it seems to me) about Meigen’s [30] types. I made the note “3 metatarsus spiny” against the name of the species without any recollection of its place in the subdivided genus. Afterwards having turned to the place in Schiner’s [Ignaz Rudolph Schiner] Austrian Diptera, the only book of reference I had with me) I perceived the disagreement, & verified the first note by a re-examination, at the Museum [31] , I saw the same species afterwards, in more than 2 collections (Sardinian &c) & none answering to Gymnopterus regalis. Of Mederetus cupreus Macq. I can only aver that the femora are-- ; as I do not remember the characters - , I cannot say that it may not agree with that genus, after all.
Saturday 8th I speak at my friends’ little estate—vine—& olive yards, chestnut woods &c on the hills about 4 miles from the town, a charming situation, from the crest of the hill, overlooking one way the city, with the lake Bientina [32] , and with a peep of the sea (only visible in the clearest weather) through a gap in the intervening hills—on the other the upper course of the Serchio [33] where it issues from the Apennines with the road to the Bagni di Corsena, the ducal palace and park of Marlia [34] , the Villa Buonvisi which my cousin Mme Pisani occupied at the time of my former visit—1845. The plain is incredibly cultivated and populated more like an Eastern city scattered among palmgroves & garden, than what we call country. The olive woods, cypresses, underwood of Myrtles, Erica mediterranea occidentalis & Arbutus give it a very different aspect from an English landscape; though in the West of Ireland we have the two latter but not combined. There was more animal life stirring than down in the plain, large Locustae rising from their resting place on the trees, with a whirr of the wings, others springing away from the feet: but the scarcity of moisture must limit some tribes. I had not time for collecting, having the site to view & bearings to take. I hope soon to hear from Bellardi, & that he may all three be able to make our movements consider in July, to me it would be a delightful anticipation. If I should go towards Rome meanwhile, which is not so likely, among so many objects more Northwards, I should be very glad to derive, from Zeller’s [35] experience, some notions & advice as to season, parts of the plain, mode of access, facilities & incommodities or dangers. I suppose it is necessary to return to Rome at night. The unsettled state of Naples will not invite a visit at present with any view to rural objects. Have you ever been in the Engadine [36] . I do not know whether the more general elevation of the valleys of the Graubünden [37] would favour a peculiar development of the Fauna, as much as the vicinity of the highest mountains. I cannot hear of any -- on the Tuscan coasts, & I believe these are chiefly in Sardinia or Elba. I shall look out for Tachytrechi, in consequence of what you say of their predominance in the African Fauna. In the Sardinian (evidently meagre) complement there were 3, F ---- & two others—one (with a faint blackish spot at the tip of the wing) I suppose new—the third of which I have a hasty note (not re-examined) possibly= I.notatus. A handsome Medeterus which seems to take the place of--- , at least I never saw the latter sp. with the same pale primrose covering. Psilopa I was led to suppose still problematical, from some notes in Berlin, Entom. Tertiary, I think, but I cannot refer to them, being here bookless—perhaps all the better for my objects in the journey though I miss them now, when I am perforce much in the house. I should be very glad of any Parasite Hymenoptera, concerning the Natural History of which you possess any information; in particular the … [letter ends]