388 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ness of "Western fields for moth-catching. Their cabinets soon pre- 

 sented new "beauties," vying with Indian and Brazilian species in 

 varied colors and far surpassing them in general interest. 



I said that " all sorts and conditions of men " were among those 

 interested in forming collections of moths, and it may be inferred that 

 there are queer specimens among the owners of the cabinets as well 

 as in the drawers of the cabinets themselves. Moth-catching is a 

 hobby, and, like other hobbies, it depends upon how it is ridden to 

 pronounce upon its value from a social or scientific point of view. 

 Some collectors amass their material from an apparent simple satisfac- 

 tion in possessing rare or odd specimens. They have no appreciation of 

 the bearing which the subject has upon general science, and no higher 

 artistic interest in their possessions than the one that they have some- 

 thing no one else has got, and which it is difficult to obtain. A sort 

 of purposeless mania seems to fall upon many of them, and they might 

 as well get together a lot of old bottles or stones as moths. They 

 deceive each other as to the locality for their rarities. I have even 

 heard of one rabid collector, now happily deceased, who destroyed 

 every specimen he had or could buy up of a certain rare exotic species, 

 except one pair in his own collection, so that he could say he was the 

 only one who had it ! Another openly stated in an advertisement that 

 he " coveted " certain specimens, which he offered to buy ; thus, proba- 

 bly unintentionally, using a word which expressed his condition ex- 

 actly, and in this way succeeding in breaking a commandment and 

 exposing his state of mind at the same time. 



While the " brethren of the net," as the moth-catchers are fond 

 of styling themselves, are, generally speaking, a friendly and useful 

 class, they necessarily include many who follow the occupation, but 

 are yet not truly of them. From such the gentler student will soon 

 turn away, sometimes not detecting them until he has suffered in purse 

 and cabinet. Like other " confidence operators," they generally take 

 in uninformed and young collectors, whose rarities are speedily trans- 

 ferred out of their keeping by the false statements and industrious 

 letter-writing of these moth-poachers. They are the dark side of a 

 picture which would be otherwise too bright and happy. 



Among the figures of moth-catchers which have crossed my own 

 path, I finally recall that of a kindly old gentleman, now no more, 

 who for many years was a visitor to my humble study. His beardless, 

 wrinkled face, framed in gray hair, had ever such a good and serene 

 expression as betokened a mind which had caught its serenity from 

 the countenance of Nature herself. I visited him in turn and not un- 

 frequently, and I remember on one particular occasion that he showed 

 me a new capture which he had made on Long Island, a new butterfly, 

 not then described in the books. As he took it from the box and 

 placed it on the table before him, pinned, dried, and set, in all its 

 beauty, a little dog, which was his pet and companion, sprang at his 



