38 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



But this was some two centuries ago, and matters 

 have greatly mended for the entomologist since then. 

 Now he may collect butterflies, or other flies, as he pleases, 

 without bringing down a commission "de lunatico" 

 on his head, but still the goodness of his heart is some- 

 times called in question, and he has to encounter the 

 equally obnoxious oharge of cruelty to the objects of his 

 admiration that, too, from intelligent and worthy 

 friends, whose good opinion he would most unwillingly 

 forfeit. 



He, therefore, is naturally most anxious that those 

 friends should be led to share his own conviction, that 

 the pursuit of entomology the needful butterfly killing 

 and all included may be not only not cruel, but actually 

 beneficent in theory and practice. 



So I will briefly try to act as apologist for the 

 " brotherhood of the net/' myself included. 



In the first place, I will state roundly my sincere belief 

 that insects cannot feel pain. This is no special plead- 

 ing, or " making the wish the father to the thought," 

 but a conviction founded on an ample mass of evidence, 

 on my own observations and experiments, and strength- 

 ened by analogical reasoning. I wish I had space to 

 lay this evidence in full before the reader; but this 

 being here impracticable, I will not damage the argu- 

 ment by taking a few links out of a chain of facts which 

 depend on their close connexion with each other for 

 their strength and value. 



There is, however, one fact which may be taken by 

 itself, and goes a long way in our favour, that I must 

 mention here. 



Insects, when mutilated in a way that would cause 

 excessive pain and speedy death to vertebrate animals, 

 afterwards perform all the functions of life eating, 

 drinking, &c. with the same evident gusto and power 

 of enjoyment as before. Plenty of striking instances of 

 this are on record, and, as an example, I have seen 'a 

 wasp that had been snipped in two, afterwards regale 

 himself with avidity upon some red syrup, which, as he 



