PREFACE 



C F 1 FEW of the pages that compose this volume ap- 

 r"A peared in that short lived periodical, The Staten 

 -L -*- Island Magazine, but for the greater part they are 

 records of rambles made during the past several years. 

 Rambles that were made sometimes with Charles W. 

 Leng, when I assisted in that happily never-to-be-ended 

 task of discovering all the kinds of beetles that inhabit the 

 Island, that count in their legions so many hundred 

 species; or with Louis P. Gratacap, when we caused the 

 hours to be memorable to ourselves by our enthusiastic joy 

 in simply wandering afield. If it were possible for any 

 man to give utterance to the simple beauty of a sunny 

 day, the whole world would treasure the production, but 

 like an artist he falls far short of the original, and gives 

 but a faulty representation of matchless nature. We men- 

 tion a hill, a field and a butterfly, but we cannot make 

 them blend properly. Sometimes I think that he who 

 makes no notes, is the wiser man. There is, however, 

 certainly a fascination in simply collecting and keeping 

 a record of the ways of beasties. One's acquaintance 

 among them widens rapidly, yet beyond there is ever a 

 haze. We never become thoroughly acquainted with a 

 grasshopper or a butterfly, and in that array of plants that 



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