FRANC ON I A. 



First came a lady, in excellent repute 

 among the savants of Europe and America 

 as an entomologist, but better known to the 

 general public as a writer of stories. With 

 her, as companion and assistant, was a doc- 

 tor of laws, who is also a newspaper propri- 

 etor, a voluminous author, an art connois- 

 seur, and many things beside. They had 

 turned their backs thus unseasonably upon 

 the metropolis, and in this pleasant out- 

 of-the-way corner were devoting themselves 

 to one absorbing pursuit, the pursuit of 

 moths. On their daily drives, two or three 

 insect nets dangled conspicuously from the 

 carriage, the footman, thrifty soul, was 

 never backward to take a hand, and 

 evening after evening the hotel piazza was 

 illuminated till midnight with lamps and 

 lanterns, while these enthusiasts waved the 

 same white nets about, gathering in geome- 

 trids, noctuids, sphinges, and Heaven knows 

 what else, all of them to perish painlessly 

 in numerous "cyanide bottles," which be- 

 strewed the piazza by night, and (happy 

 thought ! ) the closed piano by day. In this 

 noble occupation I sometimes played at help- 

 ing ; but with only meagre success, my most 



