THE BUTTERFLY TRADR 



QJ 



(^ HERE are probably hundreds, 

 if not thousands, of butterfly 

 collectors in this country, says 

 the Boston Transcript. But it 

 is doubtful if there are many who gain 

 their livelihood in this way, as is done 

 by the four Denton brothers of 

 Wellesley, who have among them one 

 of the finest, and certainly one of the 

 most beautiful collections in the world, 

 comprising specimens from India, 

 China, South America, and many other 

 distant countries. 



Large and fine as their collection is, 

 however, it contains only a small part 

 of the butterflies that they have 

 collected, as almost all of them are sold 

 to museums, and collectors, or simply 

 as house ornaments, for as they 

 mount them, they are objects of great 

 beauty and are preserved in such a 

 way as to give every opportunity for 

 the display of their fine points, while 

 they will last for an indefinite number 

 of years. 



They began this work in the usual 

 amateur manner, and simply for their 

 own amusement, but instead of becom- 

 ing tired of it and dropping it, as is 

 the case with most amateur collectors, 

 they became more and more interested, 

 and their methods attracted so much 

 attention and interest in outsiders that 

 they finally found it advisable to adopt 

 this as their life work. How exten- 

 sive a business it is may be judged 

 from the fact that they have found it 

 profitable to make a journey of six 

 months to South America for the pur- 

 pose of increasing the size of their 

 collection, and that they have in India, 

 China, and several other parts of the 

 world agents who collect for them and 

 ship the butterflies to them here. 



The work of preparing the butter- 

 flies for sale and exhibition is all done 

 in a small building back of their house 

 on Washington street at Wellesley, 

 and keeps them busy nearly all the 



time that they are not collecting. 

 When the butterflies are sent or 

 brought in, each is in a small paper 

 folder, which protects it from friction 

 or breakage. The insects are laid with 

 their wings together and pressed, being 

 then put into the folder, and shipped 

 in small boxes, enough being put into 

 each box to prevent them from slip- 

 ping about. In this way the insects 

 arrive in very good condition, although 

 they are, of course, very dry and 

 brittle if they have come a long 

 distance. In order to get rid of this 

 dryness, which would make it impos- 

 sible to work on them, they are put 

 into a box with a lot of wet paper, and 

 the dampness from this soon saturates 

 them and makes them soft again and 

 easily shaped. The next part of the 

 work is in repairing what damage they 

 have sustained, for, of course, in spite 

 of the care of shipping, they are not 

 as perfect as before they were caught, 

 and there is a great deal of delicate 

 work on them before they are ready 

 for exhibition or sale. 



Mounted, a drawer full of butter- 

 flies is more beautiful than a collection 

 of precious gems, for, although many 

 of our native butterflies are exceed- 

 ingly beautiful, they are not to be 

 compared with the average of those 

 from India, China, and South America. 

 In these dead, heavy black alternates 

 with brilliant crimson, yellow, and 

 gold, livid greens and blues, and deep, 

 rich garnet and purple, sometimes in 

 broad bands and blotches of glowing 

 color, and in others in wonderfully 

 delicate and intricate traceries and 

 patterns. The texture of the wings is 

 also infinitely more beautiful than any- 

 thing we have here, some of them 

 having a heavy rich gloss that exceeds 

 that on the finest fabric that human 

 skill can produce, while others have 

 the deep changing lustre of gems or 

 liquids. 



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