i62 JOHN STEVENS HENSLOW 



Besides the tiny harvest mice, he at one time possessed for 

 some two or three years two " pet " Jersey toads, or the great 

 crapmid. They were kept in a wire-gauze cage, and it was 

 our delight as children to feed these monsters every morning. 

 A butterfly net swept over the lawn was sure to secure all sorts 

 of flying and jumping creatures. The lid of the cage being 

 lifted up, the net was turned inside out over the toads, and 

 quickly closed. Then began the matutinal breakfast. They 

 would never notice anything that did not move. Seeing, how- 

 ever, say a grasshopper, stir, the toad would stalk it like a cat 

 after a bird ; and when within tongue-shot, out came its long 

 tongue like a flash of lightning, and the grasshopper vanished 

 in the flash. Worms were a great delight. Snapping up one 

 in the middle, the two ends were carefully cleaned from earth 

 by passing them between the toes two or three times ; then 

 followed a mighty gulp, and all was over. 



Shell-traps were always laid about the grass, consisting of 

 slates, under which there would generally be found a various 

 crop of sorts. I have now two glass cases containing all the 

 shells, land and fresh- water, of Hitcham, mounted by the 

 Professor himself A reward was offered for every specimen of 

 a Helix with the shell reversed. They are very rare, but one 

 was brought by a little boy who discovered it, for he found he 

 was unable to get his thumb into the opening the right way 

 when playing at " conquerors." So he got the only sixpence 

 earned in twenty-three years that the Professor was incumbent 

 of Hitcham. The collection of butterflies was always being 

 added to; now and then a rare one would appear at Hitcham, 

 as, e.g. the Camberwell Beauty. The Professor was walking 

 in the Rectory garden with the late Judge Eagle, of Bury 

 St Edmunds, when one settled on a wall. Mr Eagle stood 

 sentry while the Professor ran indoors for his net. It need 

 hardly be added that the specimen still rests in the collection, 

 which passed into the possession of his son-in-law, the late 

 Sir J. D. Hooker, F.R.S., etc. 



I cannot do better than conclude with my uncle's words at 

 the end of his Memoir: "When a good man dies the world 

 does not cease to benefit from those labours of love which he 



