RETROSPECTIONS AND FORE-OASTS. 41 



whilst three of the specimens of D. eiiphorbiae referred to recently in 

 the Record, only fetch £2 15s., £2, and £2 2s. respectively. How is 

 this ? Did not two specimens, only " probably " from Mr. Raddon, and 

 with I dare not say how much of the mists of antiquity surrounding 

 them, produce £G l(?s. 6d. and £(> 6s. per specimen? "Comparisons 

 are odorous," says a smelly individual near me. At any rate, " eu- 

 phorbiae " evidently improves with age, and when I'm properly 

 tempted, as I'm getting very likely to be, I'll make mine as musty as 

 possible. The strange abortion of Abraxas (jrosstdariata jjroduces 22s., 

 but as there are no other rarities in the collection no other high j^rices 

 are obtained. Well, this is very sleepy work ! Does it pay to make a 

 collection of British insects where almost every lot j^roduces on an 

 average from Id. to 2d. a bug? I must make a collection for the 

 purpose of selling it soon, but shall I make it of rarities or good honest 

 British insects ? What am I thinking about ? " Lead me not into 

 temptation " is my cry again, as I discover the train of thought into 

 which I am falling. '' Lead me not into temptation," I mutter again, 

 as I pass out into the pleasant afternoon sunshine. The sun and fresh 

 air revive me. I'll make no collection at all. I'll just do as I always 

 have done, watch the fruits of Nature's handiwork, as exemplified in 

 these the most beautiful of her creatures, enough to know that there 

 is more joy therein than in the greedy striving of the sale-room world. 

 Never again will I so unsettle my mind, never again come in contact 

 with those who cheat and those who delight in being cheated. Absence 

 is certainly the best way to avoid being led into temptation. I have 

 received a liberal education in these two visits, and as some wise man 

 says that "Enough is as good as a feast," I'll take great care that I 

 receive no more. Truly this is collecting of a kind. Who are the 

 worse ? Those who struggle against temptation and fall, or those who 

 lead their poorer brethren into temptation ? I do not know : both 

 l)erhaps are e(j[ually bad, and one feels almost tem2:)ted to imagine, from 

 the keen delight that the gulled ones take in being gulled, that after 

 all less blame should fall on those who gull. 



Bv A. J. HODGES. 



A bright and clear morning ushers in the month of February, and as I 

 sit in my stud}' the genial rays of the thrice welcome sun awake, from 

 their hybernation, tlu)se j)leasurable anticipations of the approaching 

 season, in which one is apt to let fancy run wild amid the scenes of the 

 ])ast, gilding them with a halo of the unknown possibilities of the future. 

 Who would say that in the indulgence of these healthy and excusable 

 anticipations, we have not ample justification in the immediate past, as 

 in tlie glorious annals of tlie early days, of the pursuit of that most 

 practical aspect of our favourite science of Entomology, "tlie mere 

 collecting " ? 



And while the natural instincts of every Englishman for that active 

 exercise, which is so prominent a feature in successful collecting, retain 

 their present pre-eminence, so long will " field-work " (a modern 

 euphemism for " collecting ") command the hearty support of that 

 immense majority of more or less leisured collectors, whose enthusiasm 



