366 MISCELLANEOUS. 



Dr. Sparrman, in his journey to Paarl, an inland town 

 at the Cape of Good Hope, having filled his insect-box with 

 fine specimens, was obliged to put a " whole regiment of 

 Hies and other insects " round the brim of his hat. Having 

 entered the house of a rich old widow troubled with the gout, 

 for food, he was warned by his servant that if she should 

 happen to see the insects he would certainly be turned out 

 of doors for a conjuror (hexmeester). Accordingly he was 

 very careful to keep his hat always turned away from her, 

 but all would not do — the old lady discovered the "little 

 beasts," and to her greater astonishment that they were run 

 through their bodies with pins. An immediate explanation 

 was demanded ; and had the doctor not been just then la- 

 menting with the widow for her deceased husband, and giv- 

 ing dissertations on the dropsy and cough that carried off 

 the poor man, the explanation he gave would hardly have 

 been sufficient to quell the rage of this superstitious boor at 

 the thought of there being a sorcerer in her house. ^ 



In several parts of Europe quite a trade is carried on 

 in the way of buying and selling rare insects, chiefly the 

 rare Alpine butterflies and moths. The instant the ento- 

 mologist steps from his cairiage, in the celebrated valley of 

 Chamouni, with net in hand, whence he is known to be a 

 papillionist, he is surrounded by half a dozen Savoyard 

 boys, from the age of fifteen down to eight, each v/ith a 

 large collecting-box full of insects in his hands for sale, and 

 with the scientist bargains for the insects that are found only 

 on the mountains, and which these hardy chaps alone can 

 obtain. There are again insect dealers on a larger scale, 

 who live there, and have many of these boys in their employ; 

 cue of which wholesale merchants, Michel Bossonney, at 

 Martigni in the Yallais, in the year 1829, sold 7000 insects, 

 mostly of rare and beautiful species. Another dealer, on a 

 perhaps still larger scale, is M. Provost Duval, of Geneva, 

 a highly respectable entomologist. In 1830, he could sup- 

 ply upwards of 600 species of Lepidoptera, and as many 

 Coleoptera, of the Swiss Alps, the south of France, and 

 Germany, at prices varymg from one to fifteen francs each, 

 according to their rarity. 



The advantage of this new traffic, both to the individuals 

 engaged in it and to science, is great. Now the Sphinx 

 < 



» Voy. to C. of Good Hope, i. 45. 



