Vol. XLVIII. LONDON, APRIL, 1916 No. 4 



POPULAR AND PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGY. 



The Five Thousand Dollar Butterfly, 

 by r. r. dow, brooklyn, n. y. 



Somewhat over eight centuries have elapsed since the men of 

 Europe woke from the slumber of the Dark Ages and began to 

 value mental, culture. Men of classic times do not appear to 

 have been "collectors" except of art works. In the Renaissance 

 there was a turn to Natural History, possibly inspired by the 

 Moors, who taught even Entomology in their universities. Too 

 many of the new collectors looked for unicorns, nine-headed hydras, 

 and the like, but there was nothing more popular than a display 

 of butterflies. The first collection of the "Frail Children of the 

 Air" which is now known was made by an Italian toward the end 

 of the Eleventh Century. From that time the number of Ento- 

 mologists increased amazingly, although not until about A.D. 1600 

 was any truly scientific work done. However, it is much the same 

 to-day. There is a goodly representation in every Entomological 

 Society of students, of close observers, even of patient taxonomists, 

 but the majority are still mere collectors, desiring nothing more 

 from their fellows than the scientific names of their specimens 

 and using no more mental acumen than is necessary to get together 

 postage stamps or tin tobacco tags. 



If a man will collect, spread and value butterflies in his cabinet, 

 it also follows that he will buy them. He wishes for two elements, 

 beauty and rarity. Thus the professional collector came into 

 existence. He found business most lucrative furthest afield, in 

 the most inaccessible corners of the earth, but he found much, too, 

 at home. For at least a century there has existed a widespread 

 belief that somewhere, anywhere, perhaps in one's own backyard, 

 anyone might find a rare butterfly, so rare that some collector 

 somewhere would gladly pay $5,000 for the prize. It has passed 

 orally through many lands, occasionallly getting into print, but 



