Prague
His trip and misadventures in Spain — They (Spaniards) broke his camera — Whoever caught the butterflies sent him still needs more experience, they are all flayed — Asks for more butterflies — Returns them to Rizal with their technical names — Sends instructions on how to preserve them together with sketches.
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MR. JOSE RIZAL
MY VERY DISTINGUISHED SIR,
I received your welcome letter of 8 May 1895 one day before my departure for Spain and though I intended to answer you from Spain, I could not do it. It is difficult to write letters while traveling.
But in this trip through Spain I had various misadventures. Between the station in Tarragona and the restaurant they broke my steinheil camera, for example, so that disgusted I decided to return to my country. Of other misadventures I will not speak any more. And I returned to Prague a few days ago.
Here I found the tin can filled with a few butterflies. There were 18 very interesting specimens among them, as they were from Dapitan, but alas, alas, alas, they were more or less flayed, and it was evident that the catcher who gathered them did not know yet the art of catching butterflies and “it seems that he catches them with the fist.”
But patience. I have no doubt that with time he will have more practice and later we shall receive classical specimens.
Of these 18 specimens, seven (7) are not worth even the paper of the cone — they are so flayed that I return them with their names and classification in Latin names. I suppose that you will be interested to read the names. Neither are the remaining eleven (l l) good but they are what we call passable. Here are their names. Of course on the Island of Nias there are specimens of the same genus.
Rhopalocera:
1 Ex Eurema hecabe (also in Nias)
2 Ex Danaus juventa
2 Ex Papilio daedalus (bright green) (l is very badly mutilated)
1 Ex Neptis (eremita?)
1 Ex Fanaecia lemotaenia
1 Ex Econia valeria (also in Nias)
Heterocera:
1 Ex Geometra?
1 Ex Geometra?
1 Ex Argiva?
I beg you to give your boys an order to continue catching butterflies.
Dispose of the services that your most devoted servant offers you.
NAPOLEON M. KEIHL
P.S.
As I have already said in my last letter, it would be well to catch small butterflies and heterocera butterflies (that have much hair) and preserve them in poisonous bottles. Thee are bottles:
With cyankali (I do not know how to say it in Spanish) and with chloroform.
A hole is made in the cork and then this is filled with cyankali or cotton soaked in chloroform. As it is only with chloroform that butterflies are narcotized and stunned, it is necessary to kill them afterwards by piercing their breasts with a pin moistened with nicotine, tobacco juice.
Another system of poisonous bottle with cyankali.
A tiny piece of cyankali is placed in the bottle and covered with a plaster of gypsum and water.
[2 Sketches of bottles]
01-858 [Family]