THE LEPIDOPTERIST 39 



What Is AI Quality 



By Walter F. Eastman, West Roxhury, Mass. 



The word quality in Lepidoptera is as much abused 

 as the word service is in the Commercial sense. It has 

 been the writer's experience and has undoubtedly been 

 the experience of every collector that quality may 

 mean most anything, especially so if you are purchas- 

 ing or exchanging by mail. 



The term most often used is Al quality, and your 

 correspondent will write you several pages about the 

 quality of his material, assuring you that he never 

 sends anything but Al quality, and of course, expects 

 Al prices. With this assurance from him you pur- 

 chase, and to say that you are disappointed would not 

 express your true feeling, as the specimens are poorly 

 mounted, and from the appearance of most of them 

 you would judge that they had been flying since Noah 

 built the "Ark." 



Your next move is to notify the collector that you 

 are sending back the specimens, as the quality is so 

 poor that you cannot use them. He promptly informs 

 you that you do not know what Al quality means. So 

 you start to investigate, and find that Al is taken 

 from the Commercial rating, and refers to the price 

 he expected you to pay ; and you also find that the 

 only definition of quality of the specimens in the Dic- 

 tionary that is applicable is "rank." 



It seems to make no difference to the average col- 

 lector in regard to quality, if the specimens are poorly 

 mounted, torn, parts of wings gone, no antennae, only 

 part of the body, or greasy. They are still Al quality 

 to him, and it seems to the writer that the same fair- 

 ness and square dealing can and should be carried on 

 in the purchase or exchange of Lepidoptera as in other 

 lines of business. A collector who misrepresents spec- 

 imens is no better than the grocer that puts sand in 

 his sugar. 



A collector cannot expect to have good specimens 

 if he throws his day's catch in an open box. Nor can 

 he expect that his material will arrive in good condi- 

 tion if he does not take the trouble to pack it carefully. 



