AN APOLOGY 7 



of trees with mud, make destructive forays into 

 houses, and occasionally issue forth into the air in 

 winged swarms ; arboreal ants hang their curious 

 tents among the foliage of the trees ; great butter- 

 flies flap about and chase one another in the 

 gardens ; clouds of dragon-flies herald the approach 

 of the rainy season, swooping and circling about 

 over the streets and sitting motionless on the 

 telegraph wires with widely expanded wings ; and 

 almost every night the air thrills and vibrates 

 with the ringing cries of hosts of cicadas and 

 crickets. 



In Europe it may no longer be an easy matter 

 for any one save a specialist to observe and record 

 anything of novelty or interest in regard to common 

 animals and plants, but this is certainly not yet the 

 case in India. There, a troublesome conscience 

 may still find comfort in the thought that periods 

 of "wise passiveness" are not necessarily barren 

 of profit to all save those who indulge in them, 

 but may become a source of pleasure to others 

 through a record of their casual events. The habit 

 of keeping up such a record may render the 

 observer liable to the jeers of his friends as a 

 disciple of Captain Cuttle, but, if he persevere in 

 it, he will find that he has been laying up heavenly 

 treasure in vivid memories of times of quiet enjoy- 

 ment; memories that, unless reinforced by con- 

 temporaneous record, must inevitably become dulled 



