JOHN ARTHUR POWER. 197 
he had never taken it:—‘ Well, I will go and get it,” was 
his reply. And go he did, to Portsmouth and back, five times; 
thus travelling (say) 1000 miles, to obtain this single insect, the 
result being the “fine series” of Drypta, mentioned in Proc. Ent. 
Soc. 1857, pp. 70, 90. Power’s energy and perseverance were 
unbounded,—he would go on until he did succeed; and he 
seldom rested until he had captured a sufficient number to 
supply the wants of all his friends. His liberality was without 
stint; his knowledge was freely imparted, and he was ever ready 
to help and encourage a youngster; in giving away specimens by 
the score, that must have cost him many a tedious hour to set 
and arrange, to say nothing of the journeys—to all parts of 
England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland—which he had undertaken 
to capture them, his generosity was conspicuous. 
It would be easy to raise a laugh at the wiry active little 
man,—regardless of appearances, and oblivious of all but the 
immediate object of his quest,—perched at the top of a rotten 
willow-tree ; crouching for hours together in a ditch; standing up 
to the knees in a river, scooping the water upon the bank with his 
hand ; poking about in ants’-nests, with string round his wrists and 
ankles ; trotting off with a blacking-bottle and a bit of meat to set 
a cunning beetle-trap ; or coming home at night with his hat full 
of débris from the bottom of a haystack, and scarcely waiting to 
sup before the contents were emptied on the dining-room table 
for careful examination. But there was such a genuineness and 
heartiness about him, and about all his ways, that none could 
fail to revere and honour him. His enthusiasm silenced the 
scoffer ; his earnestness compelled respect. 
It is as a collector that Dr. Power will be remembered. I do 
not know that his knowledge of entomological science, or of the 
literature of the subject, was pre-eminent; with the exception of 
Zeugophora turneri, I am not aware that he ever described an 
insect. His published writings consist only of short notes in the 
periodicals of the day. After the death of Edward Newman, Dr. 
Power gave valuable assistance in editing this Magazine, com- 
mencing with the tenth volume; but it is believed that the following 
list contains all that can be attributed to the Doctor’s pen :— 
1. Notes on the Genus Haliplus. Zool. xiv. 5174 (1856). This contains 
a notice of the capture of species belonging to other genera, 
previously unrecorded as British. 
