16 



should the fly strike against the wider part of the net, the- 

 course of air caused by the motion of the net would carry the 

 fly with it, out of the net, between your hands, which I have 

 often experienced. The motion of your hands in catching^ 

 must be from your right hip to your left shoulder, not at all 

 retarding the motion, till it is as it were spent, closing the 

 net in the motion." 1 have no doubt these instructions were 

 necessary for using the clumsy two-handled net. Nowadays, 

 of course, only the ring net is used. 



The descriptions of the insects are fair, and for the most 

 part generally accurate, though in some cases he has fallen 

 into eiTor, notably in the Bedstraw Hawk. He says: — "It 

 has been long in dispute whether the spotted elephant was 

 a native of this Island, but it is now past doubt, as I had 

 the good fortune to find a caterpillar of this moth, in marshy 

 ground, at Barnscray, in Kent. I tried various herbs to 

 bring it to feed, but my atteinpts were fruitless, and it died 

 for want. The chrysalis on the plate was sent me frojn France, 

 and the moth is produced." He correctly draws the larva he 

 had found, but figures the Spurge Hawk which emerged from 

 his French pupa. In plate XI., for some unaccountable 

 reason, he introduces a variety of odds and ends, a broken 

 clay pipe, a fragment of a decorated cup. a steel buckle, and 

 a mussel shell ! 



He records the story of Lady Glanville. Speaking of 

 the Glanville Fritillary, he says: — "This fly took its name 

 fi'om the ingenious Lady Glanville, whose memory had like 

 to have suffered for her curiosity. Some relations that were 

 disappointed by her will, attempted to set it aside by acts 

 of lunacy, for they suggested that none but those who were 

 deprived of their senses would go in pursuit of butterflies. 

 Her legatees cited Sir Hans Sloan and Mr. Ray to support 

 her character : the last gentleman went to Exeter : and on the 

 trial satisfied the judge and jury of the lady's laudable inquiry 

 into the wonderful works of the Creator : and established her 

 will." The Death's Head Hawk he calls the Bee Tiger, from 

 which it is evident that its propensity to visit bee hives for 



