D. DRURY,
At No. 1. in Love Lane, Aldermanbury,
London.
P. S. I forgot to mention that when you employ an agent to collect
insects, please to tell him it is not the great number but the variety
that I desire, six or eight being enough of any one species.
Subsequently, this fine collection came to the hammer, on Thursday, May 23,
1805, and the two following days. A few of the more interesting lots, with
the prices obtained for them, and the names of the purchasers, are given
below as an interesting record.
Lot 3 Phalæna Aprilina, Graminis, and 22 others 26 £7 12 0 G. Humphrey.
8 Sphinx Convolvuli, and 8 others 9 4 1 0 Donovan.
46 Papilio Priamus 1 4 14 6 General
Davies.
64 ---- Claviger, and 5 others 6 7 10 0 MacLeay.
69 A variety of curious Spiders, chiefly
from Georgia 110 4 4 0 Donovan.
90 Papilio Iris, Edusa, Hyale, and various 4 10 0 Humphrey.
94 Sixteen curious Curculiones 16 11 11 0 Ditto.
95 Scarabæus Goliathus, var. 1 12 1 6 Ditto.
100 Cerambyx Gigas, and 2 others 3 4 8 0 Haworth.
104 Thirteen Species of the Buprestis Genus 13 8 0 0 MacLeay.
105 Elater Flabellicornis, virens, and
8 others 10 4 6 0 Latham.
112 Cetonia hamata, nitens, grandis,
Scarabæus festivus, and 12 others 16 17 0 0 MacLeay.
123 A variety of small Insects of the
Mordella, Forficula, and other Genera,
among which are Diopsis ichneumonea
(and also a species ofPaussus) 31 7 0 0 Ditto.
201 Mutilla bimaculata, thoracica, Scolia
signata, and 24 others 27 3 5 0 Kirby.
269 Sphex tropica, frontalis, Africana, &c. 128 6 6 0 Ditto.
{x}The total amount obtained for the Insects was £614. 8_s._ 6_d._; and
about £300. more for the Cabinets, Books, &c. with the Copper-plates of the
Illustrations.
Of the estimation in which the works and collections of Drury were held by
Linnæus, Fabricius, &c. the constant references (especially by the latter)
made to them, will sufficiently prove. The former dedicated a fine species
of Cimex to Drury, figured in the first volume of these Illustrations, pl.
42. f. 1. 5.; whilst the latter described an American species of Stenocorus
from Drury's collection, under the name of St. Drurii (Ent. Syst. 1. 2. p.
302.) and also a Danish Tinea under the name of T. Drurella. The Rev. W.
Kirby also in his Monograph upon the English Bees, has named a rare species
belonging to the modern genus Eucera, Apis Drurella, with the remark--"In
honorem D. Drury, operis entomologici splendidissimi auctoris, cujus museum
insectorum rarissimorum undique conquisitorum gazophylacium ditissimum,
hanc apem ab illo acceptam nominavi." (Mon. Ap. Angl. 2. p. 286.)
That Drury was in correspondence with these "Heroes Scientiæ" will
therefore be unquestioned; and the following letter from the younger
Linnæus, communicated to me by the relatives of the former is interesting
not only on this account, but for the curious statement relative to the
Oestrus humanus then recently discovered in South America.
Celeberrimo Viro D. Drury.
S. pl. d.
Carolus a Linne.
Dum post mortem dilectissimi parentis occupatus fui in redigendo
naturalia ab illo in Syst. Nat. nondum determinata, et ut his
nomenclaturam pro scientia naturali maxime necessariam continuarem,
maxime sollicitus fui illa, quantum mihi possibile foret, synonymis ex
præstantioribus auctoribus scientiæ illustrare, imprimis illorum qui
pulcherrimis individuorum figuris sint ornati. Tu, Vir Celeberrime, es ex
illis, qui in Insectis pulcherrima præstitisti; ex Tuo opere volumina
habeo duo, quæ in hereditario cum reliqua Bibliotheca[4] Parentis habeo;
sed an tertius termes s. plures post secundum prodiere est quod ignoro,
et de qua re rogarem tuam informationem? et si prodiere ubi inveniuntur?
et quo prætio? Amicitiam quam erga Parentem habuisti, spero hanc filiolo
permittere licentiam. Optandum esset a Te in his majorem videre
augmentum, requirunt insecta figuras; nam vix differentiis determinanda
sunt. Insecta australioris plaga mundi a Banksio et Forsteriis indagata,
pulcherrime et utilissime pro scientia methodo Tua illustrari possent.
Utinam facere vellis, immortalitatem Tuam conservaret scientia hæc!
{xi}Ego qui nunc novam paro editionem Zoologicam Syst. Nat.[5] summam in
insectis sentio difficultatem ita exprimere, ut aliis intelligas quod tam
facile figuris lævatur. Multa præstitit noster De Geer de Insectis, sed
majora adhuc præstitisset, si figuræ vivis coloribus ornatæ fuissent.
Quis Entomologus est alius apud vos qui collectionem Insectorum possidet
ex India occidentali, si quis esset qui desideraret insecta Suecica
lubenter Illi ea præstare vellem.
Nuper litteras habui ex America Meridionali ubi morbus endemius est
hominum etiam Europeos aggredit illuc venientes quæ causatur a larva
Oestri, quæ intra cutem per integrum annum coelatus et nullo remedio
expelli potest nisi periculo vitæ; est nova species Oestri.
Sed hic vale et mihi fave.
Dabam Upsaliæ, d. 10 Mart. 1780.
To Mr. D. Drury, Goldsmith in the Strand, in London.
My late friend A. H. Haworth, Esq. thus spoke of Drury and his works in the
year 1807. "In the year 1770 we arrive at the time of publication of a
beautiful work on Entomology, that of my late and regretted friend D.
Drury, F.L.S. in one vol. 4to. printed at London, and containing
comprehensive descriptions in English and French, with an Index of Linnæan
names at the end, and a great many coloured copper-plates of such
interesting exotic Insects, as had not been before or insufficiently
figured. The icons were executed by Moses Harris, in his best style; and
are far superior to any of their predecessors in Britain.
"It is also unquestionably the first work in this country in which the
trivial names of Linnæus are suffered to make their appearance, and
although only given in the shape of an index, their extensive value throws
a lustre on the utility of the work, which, unaided by them, would not have
reached a second volume, published in 1773, and a third in 1782; and even a
fourth would have appeared if the author had lived much longer;[6] as he
himself assured me, some time prior to his decease; wherein would have been
delineated some of the gigantic and extraordinary insects of Demerara, in
which remote territory he had successfully employed a collecting agent. Mr.
Drury's Cabinet was one of the most extensive ever made; and is said to
have contained, in species and varieties, the surprising number of 11,000
insects. He spared neither pains nor cost in getting them together, and
like Petiver of old, sent printed instructions, in various languages, all
over the world for that purpose, by captains of ships and others.
"Soon after his decease, at an advanced age, which happened about two years
since, his valuable collection was disposed of in London, by public
auction."--(Trans. Ent. Soc. Vol. I. 1807. p. 34.)
The decease of Mr. Dru Drury occurred on the 15th of January, 1804, at the
age of eighty, and he was buried at the parish church of St. Martins in the
Fields.