JAMAICA. 191 



pausinc^ to shoot birds. At first, he was fain to borrow a 

 gun when he could, but after a month or two, as he saw 

 the paramount importance of making a special study of 

 the birds of the island, he bought himself a gun, and was 

 never without it. He was disappointed in the insects, and 

 especially in the butterflies, which he found, at all seasons 

 of the year, to be far less numerous than he had antici- 

 pated. Butterflies could be obtained but casually, and 

 moths were still more rare. He had brought with him, on 

 purpose, a bull's-eye lantern, so useful an instrument in 

 the hands of northern entomologists, but although he 

 repeatedly took it out after nightfall, searching in every 

 direction, he never made a single capture in Jamaica by 

 this means. There were one or tw^o local exceptions 

 to this general scarcity ; a certain mile on the road above 

 Content was alive with insects, and most of the specimens 

 Gosse secured were captured in this one locality, which did 

 not appear to differ in any other way from all neighbouring 

 places where no beetles or butterflies could be found. 

 When he was at home, or during the periods of tropical 

 rain, he was actively engaged in drying and packing his 

 plants, preparing his birds, wrapping up his orchids, cleans- 

 ing his shells, and putting all these captures into a proper 

 condition to be sent ofl* to his sale agent in London. He 

 made seven successive shipments to England during his 

 stay in the island, and all of these arrived in favourable 

 condition. He had become very adroit in the preparation 

 of specimens for transit by sea, and, except in orchids, 

 suffered few and inconsiderable losses. 



It might be supposed that a missionary station was not 

 a favourable centre for the pursuit of scientific enterprise. 

 But this was not the case. Gosse's sympathies were with 

 the Moravians, and their gentle manners won his affections. 

 To collect " bush " and "vermin " was, no doubt, eccentric ; 



