Popular Science Monthly 



873 



the last twenty years, many of them 

 being today obtainable at the cost of a 

 few dollars per specimen. The same 

 thing is true of the brilliant Ornithopter- 

 as of the Indo-Malay region, those huge 

 butterflies with a wing expanse of from 

 five to eight inches, and whose color is a 

 combination of velvety black with either 

 green, yellow, orange or blue. Fifty 

 years ago in order to secure these species 

 it was necessary for a collector practically 

 to take his life in his hands and penetrate 

 unknown regions inhabited by fierce 

 head-hunting tribes; today, owing to 

 the advance of civilization and the im- 



provement in means of transportation, 

 numbers of the species appear on the 

 market each year; the natives have 

 been trained to hunt for the caterpillars 

 and breed perfect specimens of the insect, 

 and whereas in former years collectors 

 would regard even tattered and torn 

 specimens as almost priceless, today for 

 a few dollars a specimen perfect in every 

 respect may be purchased. 



In the Palaearctic region all species of 

 butterflies from Tibet have always 

 commanded a high price owing to the 



Many butterflies are easily raised in captivity from cocoons picked off trees 



