42 



CHAPTER IV. 



APPARATUS REQUIRED FOR COLLECTING AND PRESERVING 

 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 



CONCEIVE a fine bright, warm day in May, the lilacs 

 and laburnums in bloom in the garden, the hedges 

 white with May-blossom, and the horse-chestnuts in all 

 their glory ; the fields yellow with buttercups, and the 

 growing grass waving under the influence of a slight 

 south-westerly breeze, such a day that all nature 

 seems happy and insects are enjoying and disporting 

 themselves in all directions. There on the blossom of 

 the lilac sits the Large White Butterfly ; yonder in the 

 field, amidst numbers of the Small White Butterfly, are 

 specimens of the gay-looking Orange Tip ; and Little 

 Blues and Small Coppers settle on the flowers to display 

 their charms to us. 



Who does not wish to photograph this fleeting pic- 

 ture? If we gather the plants and dry them, their 

 colours fade and their form alters, and it requires a 

 strong effort of imagination when we see a dried flower 

 in after years to remember what it looked like, when 

 growing it waved to and fro in the wind, and wafted its 

 scent towards us ; but the insects may be preserved in 

 all their freshness and all their glory for years, and 



