OF AN INSECT HUNTER. 29 



and most French of all cemeteries, P^re-la-Chaise. The 

 Champs de Mars was alive with GryUidcB. The Champs 

 Elysees and Bois de Boulogne abounded in autumnal insects. 

 In the garden of the Tuileries, flying about the China-asters, 

 was the deep blue Xylocopa, This bee never comes into our 

 colder, damper island. Be it also noticed that the China- 

 asters in the garden of the Tuileries are magnificent ; but at 

 all seasons these gardens are a blaze of bloom ; but let us pass 

 to the Jardin du Roi. Here science seemed to predominate 

 over beauty. 



Our Zoological Gardens are the nearest approach that this 

 country has ever made to the Jardin du Roi at Paris ; but 

 there is a difference between them that time will never remove. 

 The Jardin du Roi has the various merits of the Zoological 

 Gardens, the Botanical Garden at Chelsea, the British Museum, 

 and the Museum of the College of Surgeons, united in one. 

 In Regent's Park the garden is a pretty garden, and the 

 flowers are pretty ; and in this an approach is made to the 

 garden of the Tuileries, but only an approach — the orange 

 trees, the marble basin, the tasty fountain, the elegant statues, 

 the efiect, the tout ensemble, is wanting. In the Jardin du 

 Roi there is no attempt at beauty, but every attention paid to 

 science. The plants are arranged, and in accuracy of nomen- 

 clature are above, far above, an Insect-Hunter's praise, and 

 far above his comprehension. If we compare the live stock, 

 the English collection scarcely equals the French ; the feline 

 animals with us are very inferior. But our giraffes, our four 

 giraffes ! I had forgotten them. Certainly mine eyes never 

 before beheld a sight so splendid : the graceful, snake-like 

 flexibility of those long necks, and the statue-like repose of 

 their usual attitude, are alike superb, and are worth a menagerie 

 of lions and tigers. Throughout this vast and comprehensive 

 establishment (the Jardin des Plantes) there appears to be 

 every endeavour to place the animals in a situation as near 

 to a state of nature as possible ; they all look exceedingly 

 healthy, clean, and in good condition, and the greatest possible 

 space consistent with safety is allowed them. Much care has 

 been exercised also in the feeding department. It has been 

 ascertained that some of the carnivorous animals are most 

 healthy, and most inclined to increase in bulk, if only fed once 

 in several days. The jaguar is an animal remarkable for the 



