LICHTENSTEIN (Jules). Autograph letter signed... - Lot 31 - Métayer-Mermoz Maison de Ventes aux Enchères Paris

LICHTENSTEIN (Jules). Autograph letter signed to Jean-Henri Fabre. La Lironde [Montpellier], July 7, 1883, 1 p. ½ in-4, partly in English, envelope. INTERESTING LETTER ABOUT "NEW ENTOMOLOGICAL MEMORIES". This work, which is the second series of "Entomological Memories", was published at the end of 1882. Lichtenstein announced that he was eagerly awaiting the book, and then gave Fabre an excerpt from Entomologist's Monthly Magazine of July 1883 containing a favourable assessment of this new publication : "In 1880 [] we noticed the work by this veteran author (who has long been celebrated by his minute history of Sitaris humeralis) entitled 'Souvenirs Entomologiques', and the present volume is a continuation and amplification of his most assiduous and complete observations on the instinct and habits of the [insects]. Although the author deprecates criticism on the style of his writing by saying that 'his pages contain only a narration of facts observed, nothing more, nothing less', yet the charm of it is in this very simplicity and originally of the relation of his numerous experiments and observations". The author points out that Fabre disagrees with the hypothesis of evolution, but nevertheless recommends reading his book. Lichtenstein then offered Fabre the opportunity to publish articles in this journal, as he himself is in contact with some of its editors. He concludes by talking about his own observations: "This year I have been following the transformations of the Odynerus nobilis, which nests in the alleys of my garden and supplies its nest with weevil larvae. But what about the Odynerus after Léon Dufour ! In the same place also nests the pretty Anthophora Smithii with her ashy velvet coat, but what to say after the story of Fabre's Anthophores and Sitaris ! The honey of the Ant. Smithii harvested from the Echium is purple ". Entomologist Jules Lichtenstein (Montpellier, 1816 - id.,