Mar., '07] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 87 



manners and finished that breakfast in "no time." In a 

 few minutes I was out in the woods with the net ready for 

 action. Ha! There is a cresphontes, but how high he flies! 

 and there is the Papilio ajax, but how he is diving and criss- 

 crossing ! I might as well try to chase a sparrow with my net 

 as that fellow. But watch ! He is coming this way ! A wild 

 "strike" sent me sprawling in a bed of burning nettles, but 

 what did that matter? In the net was fluttering a real Papilio 

 ajax, the first one I had seen at such close quarters, and not 

 willing to take any chances by "bottling" in the usual way, 

 I pressed his thorax between my fingers and then I could 

 plainly feel his heart beat, — or perhaps it was mine! "Un- 

 manly?" Well, yes. perhaps. 



A good many things a man does at times can hardly be 

 called "manly" or "noble," but will, nevertheless, make an 

 impression upon his mind more lasting, and I may say, more 

 recreative than "big" deeds, like stopping a runaway horse 

 or licking a tramp. 



It is now a year since I caught my first Papilio ajax and 

 cresphontes, but how many times during this past year have 

 not the incidents been gone through ! How vividly have I seen 

 the blue sky. the majestic trees and the many-colored flowers, 

 heard the soft winds, the harmonious songs of the beautiful 

 birds, and above all as centers of attraction, the butterflies, 

 the winged and non-winged creatures that make up the insect 

 world ! Is not this true recreation for the business man, the 

 engineer and all "intellectuals" in general, as well as for the 

 man in the humblest calling? It is a happy sign of the time 

 that nature study is coming more and more to the front, and 

 any one who has taken up any branch of this study and pursued 

 it far enough to get a real interest in it, will surely agree with 

 me that it is as healthy and as inspiring a form of recreation 

 and pastime as can be well enjoyed by the average man. 



This tale has already grown too long, and I will only men- 

 tion that Horse Shoe Lake on the Illinois side of the river is 

 another locality near St. Louis worth visiting, besides all those 

 of which I do not know anything. A partial list of specimens 

 I found in St. Louis and vicinity last summer and a few I found 



