EDUCATIONAL COLLECTIONS. 41 



How seldom do we find in the case of death that the 

 children of any well-known, hard-working entomologist con- 

 tinue 10 add to their late parent's collection. In nearly every 

 instance such collection, which has probably been the result 

 of a long life's work, is handed over to a museum, sold in the 

 market, or allowed to fall into decay. Now, how is this ? 

 May not one reason be, the very completeness of the 

 parent's collection has a discouraging influence upon the 

 children, seeing the small chance that remains of their 

 making any important additions ; consequently they cannot 

 have the same interest in it that they would have in a 

 collection formed entirely by themselves. 



Some of the happiest hours of my life, even from earliest 

 childhood to the present time, have been experienced in 

 studying Natural History; more particularly in collecting, 

 observing, and arranging Lepidoptera. I am most desirous 

 that my children should participate in such pleasure ; so it 

 occurred to me some years ago that, by making a typical 

 collection of insects in all orders, I might induce them to 

 select some order in which they took a sufficient interest to 

 make them study it, and collect specimens for themselves. I 

 call these types my "Educational Collection." I have found 

 its arrangement most useful to myself, by giving me a general 

 knowledge of all the orders. It also will, 1 trust, answer the 

 purpose for which it was undertaken. Indeed, I would recom- 

 mend such a collection as worthy the attention of all ento- 

 mologists, not only as a source of interest and amusement to 

 themselves, but they will find their friends take more pleasure 

 in the exhibition of such a collection, than a larger one 

 simply of Lepidoptera will afford. The whole of my typical 

 collection occupies five large drawers, eighteen inches by 

 twenty-two inches. It is arranged in accordance with Mr. 

 E. F. Staveley's interesting work on British Insects. The 

 first drawer is devoted to Coleoptera, and all the leading 

 orders are represented : the Adephaga, Hydradephaga, 

 Necrophaga, Brachelyira, Clavicornes, &c. The object is 

 not to exhibit rare individuals, but interesting, typical, and, 

 as far as possible, well-known species, introducing these in 

 their proper places: for example, the tiger-beetle, burying- 

 beetle, devil's coach-horse, skipjacks, pill-beetle, cockchaffer, 

 and musk-beetle ; not ibrgeiting the glow-worm, death- 



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