214 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Jan, 



the greatest discovery of the age, the finest catch for many 

 years," and eventual]}^ it was named after me. He got from 

 me particulars of where it should be looked for, and he and Dr. 

 Scudder, of Boston, went three years in succession to Nepigon 

 to get the eggs of this butterfly, so as to rear the larv£e and follow 

 up their life history. They went three years in succession before 

 they got them; that shows you the persistence of Fletcher. 

 Now, if it had been me I might have gone one year in search of 

 it. There is where his success lay, and I will always maintain 

 that the man who fights the longest wins. It is the chap who 

 stops first who loses the battle. Fletcher never lost a battle. 

 It might be a drawn one, but it was never lost. 



Now, I don't think that it is possible to develop in America 

 a naturalist of the type of Fletcher. To-day, natural history 

 is becoming specialized. Botany of to-dav is taken up by a 

 dozen working on different lines. When I was young I had to 

 carry it all Now, entomology is taken up by a dozen in the 

 same way. All things are changing and hence development 

 will prevent the naturalist of his type coming to the front. 



He was made Botanist and Entomologist of the Experi- 

 mental Farm. We who knew him before that time can re- 

 member well the kind of man he was then and the kind of man 

 he became. When he went to the Experimental Farm he began 

 to study natural history on the economic side as he was in 

 duty bound to do. When Dr. Fletcher became Botanist and 

 Entomologist, as Dr. Saunders has told us, he commenced at 

 once to study botany and entomology in the way that wa& 

 required of him for his work, and from that day forward he was 

 an economic naturalist. He studied things necessary to his 

 work, and therefore he became a power in the country and the 

 Government never had a servant that went up and down the 

 country and did so much good as Dr. Fletcher. It is all very 

 good for politicians to make speeches, but they mostly amount 

 to so much hot air. When a man like Dr. Fletcher and men 

 of his type go up and down the country and talk to the farmers 

 and give them information about every difficult thing that they 

 ought to know in their everyday work, these speakers are much 

 more useful than the other class. 



There are many men in the country to-day who have 

 through him become useful men in their day and generation, 

 and now I ask what will the young people of Ottawa do who 

 used to sit in this hall and hear his speeches so full of life and 

 power? We shall never see the like of Dr. Fletcher again, but 

 his work is not done. His spirit lives in the hearts of the people 

 of Canada. 



