328 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



" foreign ; " it is rarest as " local," being, of course, of accidental 

 occni'rence ; yet it is proposed to show it only in tliat division, 

 to the extent of ignoring the two other divisions which have 

 manifestly a greater claim on it. If this, then, were adhered to, 

 the student would at once have presented to him an incorrect 

 view of the distribution of species. One other way only is there 

 out of the difficulty, which is to show a specimen of the same 

 insect in all three divisions; but this would, though more 

 correct, be as embarrassing to understand, to say nothing of 

 the loss of space involved, because the same thing would have 

 to be repeated with nearly every invertebrate possessed by a 

 museum aiTanged on these lines. 



The proper way, I contend, to give real information is to 

 shake off all insular prejudice and not call things by their 

 wrong names, i.e., claim as " British," things which are not 

 essentially so. To this end I have labelled the butterfly in 

 question : 



VANESSA ANTIOPA, L. 

 (Camberwell JiemUyJ 

 Range : Asia, Africa, America, Europe 

 generally, including Britain (rarely), 

 and has occurred in Leicestershire 

 three times. 



This, I am quite sure, is the proper method to educate the 

 public, who cannot understand, or are misled by, such crudities 

 as placing specimens in arbitrary divisions such as "Local," 

 " British," and " Foreign." 



The same rule applies to the plants ; and I remember a case 

 occurring but a short time since when a young botanist, wishing 

 to name a few plants collected abroad (in Europe), came to 

 our herbarium, modelled on these misleading lines, and at 

 once turned to the "Foreign" division to find specimens by 

 which to compare his own. An hour was wasted in trying to 

 puzzle some of them out, and he then came to me saying, " You 

 hav'n't got them." At once I saw he had things of world-wide 

 distribution, and turning, much to his amazement, to the 

 "Local" division, found them for him. All this comparison, 

 and waste of time and temper, might have been saved had the 

 plants been arranged in their proper orders and families, irre- 



