BUTTERFLIES OF MONTANA. 113 



numbers as compared with collecting in my boyhood days, when I used 

 to pick them up on the common or in the clover meadows in much greater 

 numbers. 



The next afternoon I tried again. The sky was obscured by light 

 fleecy summer clouds, which later thickened for rain. Atlantis was some 

 place else, and but a few were seen. Leto was very scarce, not one 

 captured. Melissa was yet in numbers, largely females whereas the 

 catch of the previous day was largely of males. Tharos was still in evi- 

 dence. A single Satyrus ofympus was added to the collection. Not a 

 smintheus was in sight, not an admiral. A male Colias alexandra has- 

 tened from the road to the bushes and eluded capture. It was a close 

 day but a poor catch. 



The above is typical of good days in Western Montana. Wylie com- 

 plains bitterly of the scarcity of butterflies in the eastern end. And yet 

 the chase is not without its charm and its reward. The field is new, 

 The unknown species lends zest to the search. "It isn't this not that, it 

 must be something new," is interesting and cheerful to hear. It shows 

 the speaker is thinking. And the greut state, with its wealth of life, 

 beckons to the ambitious entomologist who may be the first in his locality, 

 offering him a rich if not prolific field. To the collector will come a love 

 for the woods and fields. They will not be places of solitude, for there 

 he will find friends, and will commune with nature in that manner which 

 brings the richest reward, when he is alone. He will feel the thrill of joy 

 at first holding in his grasp a new find, for new they must be for years 

 yet. His will be the pleasure, perhaps, of finding something new about 

 some abundant species, for "Unknown" is yet written after many species 

 herein mentioned. Nay, perhaps his small collection may be the humble 

 beginning of a larger work, leading to broad fields and to the fascination 

 which comes to him whose horizon is broad, widening with each day's 

 work, limited only by physical limitations. Love for the humble little 

 creatures of the air, love for the beautiful in nature, as revealed in their 

 rich ornamentations, love for nature itself, with a reaction upon the in- 

 dividual, making him more appreciative, more happy, and more contented, 

 will be the final reward of the young collector. 



M. J. E. 

 Bigfork, Mont., July 23, 1903. 



