104 THK entomologist's RECORD. 



Entomology was uot his first love. In conjunction with his brother, 

 Harrison Weir, the well known painter, he first formed a collection of 

 a large number of living Vertebrata. An unbroken interest in 

 vertebrates was kept up, as the brothers' labours connected with many 

 of our great exhibitions at various places testif3^ British birds' eggs 

 and botanical specimens both attracted his attention before, in the 

 summer of 1843, the study of entomology seriously took a hold on him. 

 At that time he was 22 years of age and resided at Camberwell, which, 

 in his own words, was " within an easy walk of Dulwich Wood of SO 

 acres, to which access was to be had without difficulty. London, in 

 those days, broke off abruptly, and at four miles from London Bridge 

 one was as much in the country as if fifty miles distant. There were 

 rookeries at the Tower, in St. Dunstan's Churchyard, and one nest in 

 Wood Street, Cheapside. Swallows had their nests in the Custom 

 House, and I have often seen falcons on the spire of St. Dunstan's 

 Church. One Peregrine Falcon took up its residence in the spire of 

 Shoreditch Church, and committed sad havoc among the pigeons in 

 Spitalfields, and it was no unusual thing for my own pigeons at 

 Camberwell to be suddenly swooped upon lay a falcon." 



In 1844 Mr. Weir became friendly with Messrs. Douglas and 

 George Bedell, and soon afterwards with Mr. Stainton. These friend- 

 ships soon led him to become as ardent, if not so well-known, a micro- 

 lepidopterist as themselves. At the end of the year he attended a 

 meeting of the Entomological Society, and was elected a member in 

 January, 1845. This led to his acquaintance with most of the leading 

 entomologists of that time, such as Spence, Stephens, Westwood, 

 Doubleday, Newman and many others. 



In June, 1845, we find him chronicling the capture of Ino geryon 

 (mitil then only a reputed British species), Agrotin cinerea and Cramhis 

 pygmaem (ccruscJlMs) at Lewes, and from that time onwards various 

 notes from his pen are to be found scattered over the pages of the 

 Entomological magazines. 



His connection with Darwin and Wallace led him to take more 

 than ordinary interest in the pliilosophical aspects of science, and 

 whilst most of his contemporaries continued on in their species-making 

 lines, he ranged himself at once with the younger men, and fought 

 manfully in their ranks. An accident in 1870, by which he lost the 

 top of his left thumb, and was thus incapacitated from manipulating 

 small and delicate insects, led him to give a much greater portion of 

 his time to the study and consideration of the larger species, and 

 butterflies attracted his attention, the subject of mimicry having an 

 immense fascination for him. In furtherance of his studies in this 

 interesting subject, he made a very large collection of the Danaine 

 Rhopalocera and the families of butterflies that mimic them. He made 

 a number of exhibits of these specimens at the South London Ent. 

 and Nat. History Society, and the Entom. Society of London, and 

 read most carefully prepared notes thereon, but at the former Society 

 lie oft-times felt a want of sympathy with his more advanced ideas, 

 for very recently he said in a letter to the writer, — " I do hope you 

 will be present to-night. I have some notes to read which will interest 

 vou, and I want your support. It is difticult for a man at my age to 

 understand that comparatively young men publicly delight in expressing 

 their disbelief in evolution, and almost in the same breath inform you 



