64 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



besprinkle their pages with the learned names of 

 every familiar creature. But the flies are a small and 

 an exceedingly numerous people. When you happen 

 on a fly that by chance draws your attention by its 

 curious actions or appearance, it is not so easy as 

 the uninformed person may think to give it a name ; 

 I have tried it and therefore know. I have consulted 

 books and books, and found not what I sought : I 

 have also consulted entomologists, and they have 

 asked me in a tone of surprise and mild remon- 

 strance if I had taken them for Dipterists, when, as 

 I ought to have known, they were Lepidopterists, or 

 else Coleopterists. This is indeed the poor, puzzled 

 field naturalist's great trouble, that so many mono- 

 graph compilers occupy themselves with these two 

 great orders of insects, while other orders, just as 

 interesting when you come to look at the creatures, 

 are neglected. Well, it is a comfort to hear that 

 there is a Dipterist in England, and that he has 

 nearly finished writing the very book that many of 

 us want — a monograph of the British flies. 



Butterflies are abundant ; a brimstone yellow shin- 

 ing in the sunlight has a very splendid appearance 

 as he flutters airily by you on his way ; but the 

 larger brilliant-coloured species rest not here, where 

 the green flowery surface is too smooth for them. 

 The red admiral is common enough in furzy places; 

 but on the close-cropped turf the largest butterfly is 

 the grey heath — the sedentary "gatekeeper," who 



