146 The Scottish Naturalist. 



themselves, and are often considered by others, to be naturalists, 

 are merely collecting -machines, who, by some chance, collect 

 specimens of natural history instead of china, postage - stamps, 

 and so forth. To this class, too many persons, dignified by the 

 name of entomologists, belong, and hence entomology has been, 

 and still is, rather contemptuously regarded by students of other 

 departments of natural science. Another class are the species- 

 mongers, whose science begins and ends with the describing of 

 new species, and to whom classification, structure, development, 

 and oeconomy, are but secondary matters of comparatively little 

 interest. 



But there are others who go through life with their eyes open, — 

 to whom it is a pleasure to observe all the habits and peculiarities 

 of every natural object that comes within their reach, and to in- 

 quire of the Great Mother the why and wherefore of everything. 

 To them the study of nature is a pure delight — never cloying, 

 but ever increasing more and more as knowledge is added to 

 knowledge. These are true naturalists ; and when they put pen 

 to paper, then such delightful books as old Gilbert White's 

 ' Natural History of Selborne ' are produced. There may be 

 not much " science " in their methods of working, and the con- 

 clusions they draw from their observations may be often errone- 

 ous, still they are the material out of which scientific naturalists 

 are formed. But as in everything else, however great may be the 

 love of nature and the ability to observe, there must be an edu- 

 cation and training in science before great things can be accom- 

 plished. Some persons receive this education early in life, to 

 others it does not come till later. To the latter class it befell 

 Sir Thomas Moncreiffe to belong. 



Always imbued with a great love of nature, and endowed with 

 a keen and observant eye, — whose powers were, no doubt, in- 

 creased by the various games of skill in which he excelled, — it 

 was only of late years that Sir Thomas found time, amidst his 

 numerous duties, to devote himself to the practical study of 

 natural history. Entomology was the branch of science that 

 he selected, and the order Lepidoptera the special object of 

 his research. At first, lie confined himself to the observation 

 of the species inhabiting the rich district surrounding his an- 

 cestral home. How rich this district is, and how well he ex- 

 plored it, may be seen from the list recently published in this 

 magazine. In the list in question, only the species inhabiting 

 one square mile of the Moncreiffe estate are noticed — the restric- 



