LÉPIDOI'TÉROLOOIK COMPARÉE I5 



satire willi childish malice, and consig'ns ihc naturalist lo 

 Bedlarn : 



Mail, cuiious wiglits ! tci whoiii so fair 



The form of mortal flics is ! 

 Who deeni thosr grubs beyond compare 



Which mortal scnsc despises. 



Even m Uie V^ictcjrian thirtics Edward Ncwiiuui, loundcr of 

 ihc Zoologis!, who dç\otcd a lon^^" and usciul lilc to nature 

 study, warned tlie collector of msects tliat ' he must makc up 

 liis niind to suik m the opinion of his friends ; to be the object 

 of the undisguised pity and ridicule of the mass of mankind, 

 from the moment in which he commences so msignihcant a 

 pursuil ; and preciscly in proportion as he enters on the subject 

 scientifically will this pity and ridicule mcreasc. 



But, towards the close cf the nineteenth century, those who 

 hacl swept the '' ologists " mto one contemptuous category were 

 compelled by the " bug-hunters "' thcinsclves to acknowledge 

 that, after ail, there was somethmg, e\cii a commercial something, 

 in nature study. The late Lord Walsingham, one of the fînest 

 sportsmcn and the best shot of his day, spent the greater part 

 of his leisure, and travelled the world over, in pursuit of the 

 tiny Microlepidoptera. Entomology ceased to be regarded as 

 the poor man's hobby; and at length the State began to rcalize 

 its économie value. The Continent and the United States had 

 already set the example. France, long ago, under Empire and 

 Republic, granted subventions to practically every scientihc and 

 field naturalists' society, and the grant m most cases is supple- 

 mented by the Municipal Authority on the grounds of " public 

 utility. " The American State Entomologist had justified his 

 existence long before Whitehall was moved to action. To-day 

 the two-thousand-year-old motto, " Naliira maxime miranda in 

 miniviis, " might be carved over the portais of the Ministry of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries, over the School of Tropical Medi- 

 cine, and other like institutions. Nor should it be forgotten how 



