CHAPTEE XIX. 



HOUSEKEEPING IN A BASKET. 



These house chronicles do not record all the conver- 

 sations held around the great sitting-room fireplace 

 during the year of which I write. Since undertaking 

 to edit the notes accumulated at that time, I have been 

 compelled to omit many subjects. I am not sure that 

 the most interesting themes have always been chosen 

 for these published papers. At least, it is safe to say 

 that many that greatly interested our circle will not 

 here appear ; for it only needed that we should unite 

 our knowledge and experience upon the life-history 

 of the humblest of the Insect Tenants of our Old 

 Farm, in order to insure a fund of agreeable informa- 

 tion. Certainly, some insects had greater attraction 

 for us than others, but there was enough and to spare 

 in the natural history of any one of them. Time and 

 again our little circle learned the truth, well known to 

 naturalists, that the objects which yield the richest 

 store under investigation are those which lie nearest at 

 hand. From such objects we selected our subjects, 

 leaving many untouched : and from such selections 

 agam these published notes have been gleaned. I make 

 bold to speak of this lest some one should think that 



these scant studies cover the field of entomology. 



377 



