INTRODUCTION. lv 



visited localities will always fetch good prices (one of the rarer 

 species of Ornithopterawa sold for ^15 at an auction a short 

 time since), yet many Butterflies can now be bought for fewer 

 shillings than they would have fetched pounds a few years 

 ago. Consequently, a collector in London could easily bring 

 together a very fair collection, if he set about it judiciously, at 

 a comparatively small cost, even if he made it a rule not to pay 

 a higher price than, say, a shilling a specimen. Undoubtedly 

 the cheapest way of buying Butterflies is to buy miscellaneous 

 lots at an auction, especially lots in papers. They are easily 

 relaxed afterwards, and though some of the specimens will be 

 bad, there will probably be enough good ones among them to 

 be worth the money paid for them, at any rate by a beginner. 

 But specimens without antennae, or with the wings torn, should 

 be avoided as far as possible, both on the ground of appear- 

 ance and of value. If, however, they are needed for anatomical 

 or microscopic purposes, such as the study of the legs or 

 scales, it is different. And it is well to denude a specimen of 

 each species which can be spared, of scales on one side of the 

 wings, to illustrate the neuration, preserving the other half 

 intact, in order to ensure the absolutely current indentification 

 of the species. 



Insects which are most eagerly sought after, and which are 

 most difficult to obtain, at least at a reasonable price, are rare 

 British (or so-called British) specimens, especially the extinct 

 fen insects, varieties of indigenous species, and insects from 

 Central Asia, the less visited islands of the Pacific (especially 

 the fine Ornithopterce^ many of which are confined to a 

 single small island), and the finer and rarer Butterflies 

 of the west of Tropical America, such as various species of 

 MorJliO) Agrias, &c., from Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. There 

 are some countries and islands rarely visited by collectors, 

 because they do not produce enough species to make it worth 



