MR. JAMES WM. BOULT. 245 



of any act, and only on one occasion, some years ago, when 

 using his insect net in a field near Springhead, he was accosted 

 by the tenant and ordered off the ground with much expletive 

 English and flourishing of a horse whip. In relating this 

 little incident our friend always chuckles when he comes to 

 the concluding sentence : — "But you know, the farmer was 

 drunk," and little else could be expected. 



Of inquisitiveness of the natives, as well as of their banter, 

 our collector frequently has had to run the gauntlet, generally 

 coming off best man. On once sweeping the long grass near 

 Sutton Drain he was accosted by an agriculturalist with : 

 "Are ye catchin' fish?" "Yes," was the ready reply, 

 "flying fish." " A've heerd tell o' flyin' fish, but a' did'nt 

 think there were any aboot these parts," was the rustic 

 rejoinder. Youthful remarks are perhaps most frequent, 

 but generally evince a somewhat limited acquaintance 

 with natural history pursuit, which in their opinion 

 may be summed up in the word " striggling " (alternative 

 for "stickleback catching"). The most effective mode, 

 however, of settling all unnecessarily inquisitive people was 

 by answering their questions with the scientific name of 

 the insect caught, although this had its limits of endurance 

 on the part of those informed, who occasionally construed the 

 answer as insolence. 



Had the subject of this sketch been favoured with a little 

 better literary training, and had not an unfortunate life-long 

 impediment of speech hampered vocal demonstration of his 

 pet subject, Mr. Boult's name as writer and lecturer 

 undoubtedly would have been more conspicuous. As it is, he 

 has made valuable contributions to the Transactions of the 

 Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' Club. His " List of the 

 Macro-Lepidopteria (Butterflies and Large Moths) collected 

 within eight miles of Hull," which appeared in the Club's 

 Transactions, Vol. I., No. II., 1899, * s the fullest account 

 of the subject so far as the East Riding is concerned that has 

 yet been published. 



Besides these, he has read several papers, accompanied 

 by practical illustrations and demonstrations at the Club's 

 meetings. 



We have already hinted that Mr. Boult is by no means to 

 be considered as a man of merely "one book." Of local 

 mollusc shells (land, freshwater, and marine) he has a very 

 complete collection, as beautifully selected and preserved as 

 is the case with his insects. Together with the writer one 

 Saturday afternoon, some years ago, he was the co- 



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