YOUNG ENTOMOLOGISTS. D 



because all children run after butterflies, all who run after 

 butterflies are children. As a friend of mine, a clergyman, 

 when well advanced in life, while pursuing eagerly some in- 

 sect, overheard the remark of some uninitiated in his occupa- 

 tion, "Look at that big babby !" and had his object been merely 

 to catch an insect and look at it for a moment as children do, 

 and then let it go again, he might indeed have been styled a 

 "babby," but then he would not have been an Entomologist. 



Kirby and Spence in their invaluable "Introduction to 

 Entomology," a work whose excellence is best understood 

 by the fact of it having gone through six editions in this 

 country, and been translated into several foreign languages, 

 endeavoured to show that Entomologists are not to be despised 

 as triflers, and no doubt at the present day many are disposed 

 to accord them a higher rank, but still see two men in one 

 field, the one standing patiently by the side of a stream try- 

 ing with a rod in his hand to obtain a " glorious nibble," the 

 other with an Entomological net in his hand in full career 

 after a butterfly (perhaps a Bath white), the passers-by will 

 consider that the angler's occupation has in it nothing con- 

 temptible, and they will not gape and stare at him every time 

 he moves, while he who is in pursuit of his Daplidice will 

 be regarded with very different feelings, and not a few jokes 

 probably cracked at his expense. 



Many of you whom I more especially address are, per- 

 haps, considered by your friends and relatives as following a 

 foolish pursuit, and you are told you are wasting your time 

 and neglecting your studies ; the latter I hope is not truly 

 the case, for I advocate that no duty should be neglected for 

 the sake of pleasure, and you will find that you will enjoy 

 your recreation none the less for working hard whilst at 

 work. 



All Entomologists begin (I believe without exception) 

 with being collectors of insects, and, therefore, he who is 



