82 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



special training. Any one can take it up and follow it with a pleasure 

 that rapidly becomes absorbing. Especially to dwellers in the country, or 

 to those who spend some weeks in summer in the country, is this to be 

 commended. And to any one who needs a hobby, the collecting of but- 

 terflies and breeding them from the egg, will give the physical and mental 

 exercise they seek. A few days ago, a wealthy man, retired from busi- 

 ness, in one of our cities, driven to despair from mere inaction, shot him- 

 self, in the fear that he would go mad. And one of the daily papers 

 improved the occasion to preach the importance of hobbies, whether it be 

 the raising of cabbages, or collecting pictures or china, or the study of 

 archaeology or of natural history. A man mounted on his hobby "does 

 not suffer from vain regrets of his past career. He has found something 

 more absorbing, more elevating, more pleasing. His hobby suffices him, 

 gives him an interest in life, and prevents his nerves from preying on his 

 health." I knew of a lawyer who at sixty was ordered by his physician 

 to find some employment out of doors which would occupy his time and 

 thoughts, unless he wished to be speedily gathered to his fathers ] and he 

 conceived the idea of making a collection of limestone fossils, as they 

 were abundant in the region in which he lived, though hitherto he had 

 known nothing of fossils or of natural history. And this he followed with 

 delight for years, chiselling out the beautiful fossils as laboriously and 

 skillfully as if stone-cutting had been his trade, studying them and 

 arranging them in cabinet. He lived twenty happy years after that change 

 of base, and left a collection which is famous for its magnitude and value. 

 And, on the other hand, we have all known men who in the prime of their 

 mental and physical strength have retired from active business, and have 

 died from sheer vacuity of mind, after twiddling their thumbs in an arm- 

 chair a few years, who might have reached four score if they had some 

 hobby to ride. So I commend butterflies to elderly gentlemen or retired 

 gentlemen in need of an occupation. The young need no recommend- 

 ation. It is always enough to show them the way in any branch of 

 natural history, and they follow it with ever increasing enthusiasm. Studies 

 of this description keep young people out of mischief and old people out 

 of the grave, and that is one good reason for cultivating natural history. 

 And now to our subject. Most female butterflies lay eggs readily in 

 confinement, if shut up with their natural food plant. What that is can- 

 not always be known, but it is well to try plants which allied species feed 

 on. In most cases allied species feed on the same group of plants. Thus 



