MOSES HARRIS 131 



colours and delicate shadings undimmed by time in 

 his old folios. In one of his later works, An Exposi- 

 tion of English Insects, dated 1782, he describes and 

 figures some of our dragon-flies. It was the custom 

 of this author to give the vernacular as well as the 

 scientific names to his species, and in describing the 

 virgo, he says : " These ... on account of the brilliancy 

 and richness of the colouring are called kingfishers." 

 But he had no common name for the others, which 

 seemed to trouble him, and at last in desperation after 

 describing a certain species, he says that it is " vulgarly 

 called the dragon-fly ! " 



I pity old Moses and I pity myself. Why should we 

 have so many suitable and often pretty names for 

 moths and butterflies, mostly small obscure creatures, 

 and none for the well-marked, singular - looking, 

 splendid dragon-flies? The reason is not far to seek. 

 When men in search of a hobby to occupy their 

 leisure time look to find it in some natural history 

 subject, as others find it in postage stamps and a 

 thousand other things, they are, like children, first 

 attracted by those brilliant hues which they see 

 in butterflies. Moreover, these insects when pre- 

 served keep their colours, unlike dragon -flies and 

 some others, and look prettiest when arranged with 

 wings spread out in glass cases. Moths being of 

 the same order are included, and so we get the 

 collector of moths and butterflies and the Lepido- 

 pterist. So exceedingly popular is this pursuit, and 



