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Vol.11: no.6
PACKARD'S FINAL ARRANGEMENT FOR PUBLICATION OF HIS MONOGRAPH ON THE BOMBYCINE MOTHS
by Ralph W. Dexter
Five days before Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., died, he wrote the following note giving directions and his wishes in regard to the publication of his magnum opus on the Bombycine moths.
Brown University Providence
February 9, 1905
Memorandum: As respects the completion of my Monograph of Bombycine Moths — The second part being completed, that of the third is nearly ready for the press, so also that of the fourth part — that of the Hemileucidae. The fifth part is nearly ready and is to be entitled the Saturniidae. The third part on which I am now at work if I had my health would require five or six months more. Now it Is my urgent hope and wish that those parts be finally issued in one or more of the Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences. We shall need a little more money from the Bache fund; part of this money will come from the Bache fund if they be so liberal if they will make from year to year small appropriations. I hope and believe it will be a great boon to American Entomology, as see letters to me by Mr. Arnold Hague.
(Signed) A. S. Packard
The first volume entitled, "A Monograph of the Bombycine Moths of America, North of Mexico; including their transformations, the origin of the larval markings and armature, and the phylogeny of the Lepidoptera. Part 1. Family 1. Notodontidae" had already been published in 1896 as Volume 7 of the Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences,, consisting of 396 pages, 49 plates, 10 maps, and 88 figures.
The second volume, "Part II. Family Ceratocampidae, Subfamily Cera-tocampinas" was published in 1905 shortly after Packard's death as Volume 9 of the same series and contained 272 pages with 61 plates. The remainder of his work was edited by T. D. A. Cockerell and eventually published as "Part III. Families Ceratocampidae (exclusive of Ceratocampinae), Saturniidae, Hemileucidae, and Brahmeidae." This appeared in 1914 as Volume 12 of the Memoirs with 516 pages and 113 plates.
Packard's wishes were finally realized and his work became a monument to his indefatigable labors over a long period of time. This monograph was his greatest research contribution to entomology.
Dept. of Biology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, U. S. A.