SIR,

My being an utter stranger to you compels me to apologize for the liberty

I take in sending you this. Mr. Carghill's recommendation is the occasion

of my doing so, and he has assured me of your {viii}kind disposition to

oblige me in those articles that are the subject of the following lines;

I must therefore inform you that I am engaged in the study of Natural

History, but as the extensiveness of it in all its several parts is very

great, I confine myself entirely to one single branch, and that is

Insects. A branch I find fully sufficient to engage my attention without

entering into any of the others, and in consequence of this I am

endeavouring to obtain as large a collection of foreign ones as I

possibly can; to this end I am under a necessity of getting various

recommendations from my friends to gentlemen settled in foreign parts,

who I must consider as the only persons that can effectually assist me in

this scheme. Permit me therefore, Sir, to beg your concurrence herein,

and if the highest ideas of gratitude can prompt a man to make an

adequate return for any favour of this kind, be assured I shall take the

earliest opportunity of manifesting mine for any thing you shall think

proper to oblige me with. The great distance the continent of Africa is

situated from London, the ignorance we labour under of its produce in the

insect world, and the great difficulty I have found in procuring any

insects from those parts, are circumstances that rather increase than

blunt my desire for them; but as in the course of fourteen years I have

not been able to procure any great number, I can only attribute this

disappointment to my having never been able to apply to any gentleman

settled there, for the persons that I have hitherto commissioned to this

purpose were those that returned with the ships they went in, and I

imagine their time was too short to be able to procure such things for

me; but as Mr. Carghill has informed me your residence in Africa will

afford you many leisure hours, permit me to indulge the hope of your

complying with this request. It is necessary for me to inform you that

there is no occasion for your bestowing any time of your own in this

pursuit, as I imagine it might be done by people to be hired in Africa to

that purpose for a very trifle; and as it is necessary I should inform

you where and in what manner insects in general are to be taken, give me

leave therefore to explain the use of the things I have sent for that

purpose: you will observe the bows of the forceps being covered with

gauze, and folding so close together as to prevent any small insect's

getting out when once enclosed, constitutes a contrivance the best

adapted of any thing I ever saw for that purpose, it is small enough to

be carried in the pocket, and if you have curiosity enough to employ an

hour in this amusement, permit me to say you will have a scene of wonders

opened to you in the insect world, you will have such a number of objects

of speculation present themselves, that will amaze you. When an insect is

inclosed in these nets it is to be stuck through the body with a pin (I

have sent some for this purpose), and in that manner placed in the box,

whose top and bottom are lined with cork. Suffer me to beg of you (if you

will be so obliging to procure me some of those things) to get a larger

box made in Africa of soft wood, in which a pin will easily enter, and

replace the insects out of the oval box now sent into that, and when

filled I will entreat you to commit it to the care of a friend to be

conveyed to England, giving him at the same time a charge to keep it from

being tumbled about by the rolling of the ship, which will certainly

damage the contents, and favouring me with a letter of advice; it is

necessary to beg you to paste a slip of fine linen or paper all round the

crevice and opening of the box, to prevent the cockroaches, ants, &c.

getting in, who will infallibly damage and destroy the insects in it; I

forgot to mention that they should not be removed out of the oval box

into the great one till they are dead, because they will scratch and tear

one another to pieces, therefore when the person comes home from

collecting, they may be taken out singly and stuck on a piece of board or

stick, and held close to the fire (not so as to burn or scorch them), and

this in less than a minute will effectually kill them, afterwards they

may be stuck very close together in the large box, and in that manner

sent to England. I will just mention what kinds will be most acceptable,

and where they are to be found, viz. beetles or insects with hard cased

wings, insects with transparent wings, such as wasps, {ix}bees,

waterflies, also locusts or grasshoppers, ants, fireflies, or in short

any kind except cockroaches, centipedes, or scorpions, which in general

are so very common they cease to be valuable--of all the other kinds

there is an infinite variety, differing in size, shape, and colour, any

of which will be very acceptable, either large or small; and of which,

give me leave to observe, the most ugly disagreeable insects (as they

appear to be) are the most desirable. They are found in various places,

some on flowers, some in horse-dung or cow-dung, some under stones and

logs of wood, some under the bark of trees where it separates or divides

itself from the body, which by tearing up will expose many kinds to view;

but no place abounds more than rotten trees, for there they hide and

secrete themselves in holes among the rotten wood, and are never seen

unless they are searched for. Let me here observe, that the different

seasons will yield different species of insects, some being to be found

in one week that were not to be seen the preceding ones, and the next

will afford others differing from the former, while the succeeding one

shall produce some other sorts that were not to be seen before; so that

by searching for them at different times, you perceive great varieties

will be collected. I must also beg you to preserve the horns of them as

much as possible, as they in a great measure determine their genus, and

as such should not be broke off. The insects placed in the box will serve

as samples to show the person you may hire what kinds of things are meant

to be collected, who for want of them might not be able to understand

your instructions.

I have now, Sir, mentioned every article necessary to be known, therefore

shall conclude with once more begging you to assist me in this scheme;

and if there is any business, or any other thing, in which I can be

serviceable to you here, I beg you would command me; but if there is

nothing of that kind by which I can express my gratitude, permit me again

to repeat I shall take the first opportunity of making a return fully

adequate to your favour.