8 BUTTERFLY COLLECTOU'S 



example of this vulp;ar error; wliicli, for tlie sake of tlx- 

 unofl'onding insect, it is to be lioped is so purely provinciiil 

 as to be confined to those counties. It was from a different 

 feeling that Shakspearc, in his inimitable Midsummer Kii>hl's 

 Dream, makes the Queen tell her Fairies, in their charge of 

 Oheron, to 



"pluck the wings from painted Butterflies 



To fan the moon-beams from his sleeping eyes." 



The Butterfly is one of the principal ornaments of oriental 

 poetry ; but in those countries, the insect is larger and more 

 beautiful than with us. 



Lord Byron thus elegantly alludes to one of the most 

 splendid and rare of the species, " the blue-winged Butterfly 

 of Kashmeer." 



" As, rising on its i)urple wing. 

 The insect queen of ea-stem spring 

 O'er emerald meadows of Kashmeer 

 Invites the young pursuer near, 

 And leads him on from flower to flower, 

 A weary chase and wasted hour ; 

 Then leaves him, as it soars on high. 

 With panting heart and teariiil eye. 

 So beauty lures the fall-grown child. 

 With hue lus bright and wing a.s wild, 

 A chase of idle hopes and (cars. 

 Begun in folly, closed in tears ; 

 If won, to equal ills betray'd. 

 Woe waits the insect and the maid. 

 ' «•«■•• 



The lovely toy so fiercely sought 

 Has lost its chahn by being caught. 

 For every touch that wooed its .stay 

 Ha.s brush'd its brightest hues away, 

 Till charm, and hue, and beauty gone, 

 'Tis left to fly or fall alone." 



THE oiAoun. 



