Suspicious Conduct 



work on "The Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera." They correctly 

 attributed it to the Rocky Mountains, but Kirby afterward 

 gave Jamaica as its habitat, and this led to its subsequent rede- 

 scription by Edwards under the name Victoria. It is a rare species 

 still, having been received only from Laggan, Alberta, where it 

 was rediscovered by that most indefatigable collector and ob- 

 server, Mr. T. E. Bean. It frequents the highest summits 

 of the lofty mountains about this desolate locality. Mr. Bean 

 says: '' Astarte seems always on the lookout for an entomolo- 

 gist, whose advent is carefully noted, and at any approach of 

 such a monster nearer than about fifteen feet, its wings rise to 

 half-mast, vibrate there a doubtful instant, and away goes the 

 butterfly." 



In addition to the thirteen species figured in our plates there 

 are two other species of the genus, B. biitleri, Edwards, from 

 Grinnell Land, and B. improba, Butler, from near the arctic circle. 

 It is not likely that many of the readers of this book will encounter 

 these insects in their rambles, and if they should, they will be able 

 to ascertain their names quickly, by conferring with the author. 



SUSPICIOUS CONDUCT 



The entomologist must not expect to be always thoroughly 

 understood. The ways of scientific men sometimes appear 

 strange, mysterious, bordering even upon the insane, to those 

 who are uninitiated. A celebrated American naturalist relates 

 that on one occasion, when chasing butterflies through a meadow 

 belonging to a farmer, the latter came out and viewed him with 

 manifest anxiety. But when the nature of the efforts of the man 

 of science had been finally explained, the farmer heaved a sigh 

 of relief, remarking, in Pennsylvania Dutch, that "he had surely 

 thought, when he first saw him, that he had just escaped from a 

 lunatic asylum." The writer, a number of years ago, after having 

 despatched a very comfortable lunch, sallied forth one afternoon, 

 in quest of insects, and in the course of his wanderings came 

 upon a refuse-heap by the roadside, opposite a substantial house, 

 and on this heap discovered an ancient ham, which was sur- 

 rounded by a multitude of beetles of various species known to 

 be partial to decomposed, or semi-decomposed, animal matter. 

 He proceeded immediately to bottle a number of the specimens. 



136 



