YOUNG ENTOMOLOGISTS. 7 



obscure passage in Xenophon or Thucy elides, may later in 

 life be of use in enabling an Entomologist to unravel 

 some obscure description ; indeed the classical student soon 

 gets to learn that to ascertain an author's meaning, the only 

 way is to familiarise yourself perfectly with all the author's 

 modes of expression. Individuals rarely use the same com- 

 bination of words to express exactly the same ideas, and an 

 author's meaning is best elicited by a reference, not to a 

 dictionary, but to himself. 



An Entomologist soon finds that the field before him is 

 so vast, that even if, as is now generally the case, he confine 

 himself to one order of insects, for him to catch a sufficient 

 quantity of each species to supply even his limited circle of 

 young entomological acquaintance is no pursuit for an 

 idler; indeed he cannot long have pursued this branch of 

 Natural History without noticing that if, as the late Dr. 

 Arnold remarked, an early separation is observed at school 

 between the idlers and the workers of the community, that 

 he has already taken his election among the latter class. 



Want of useful employment for their time is the great 

 bane of the mass of mankind — "for Satan finds some mis- 

 chief still for idle hands to do"— anyone who can early 

 initiate the young to some attractive amusement, which shall 

 at the same time afford them useful employment, becomes a 

 benefactor to his race. Now, of all branches of study, En- 

 tomology is perhaps the most attractive to the young : one 

 great advantage is, that it is a pursuit which combines the 

 healthful exercise of the sportsman with no small amount of 

 headwork at home ; and with this advantage over any pur- 

 suits in which the out-door exercise and in-door study are 

 totally disconnected, because here each reacts upon the other, 

 the Entomologist carefully examines a specimen under the 

 microscope to ascertain to what group it should belong, and 

 during his next walk he takes pains to observe the habits 



