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THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



nature, who does not possess a good share of this excellent quality, is one not 

 likely to achieve any great success in his special branch of study, be it ento- 

 mology or any other subject ; he is not a naturalist in the true sense of the 

 word, for he is deficient in that quality which is essential to a true student of 

 nature — a passionate love for nature. Why, it is this enthusiasm or thorough 

 earnestness in his work that spurs on the diligent worker to further exertion, 

 without which great results cannot be attained. Those of you who have read 

 the lives of such eminent men as Thomas Edwards, Hugh Miller, and others 

 who have achieved fame within recent years, will know that the great cause 

 of their success was that intense love for their study which urged them on to 

 further investigation, and which ultimately crowned their labours with suc- 

 cess. Take the late Mr. Buckler as another example. Is it possible that, 

 " for more than a quarter of a century before his death," this entomologist 

 would have persevered in his difficult work of describing and figuring the 

 the larvse of the British Lepidoptera, unless his whole heart was absorbed in 

 in the great work in which he was engaged ? I think not. Without a 

 genuine love for the study I do not think he would have continued this 

 patient work through so many years. 



Enthusiasm, then* may be justly termed as one of principal characteristics 

 of the entomologist. It is this intense love which prompts the entomologist 

 to walk mile after mile, o'er hill and moor, in the chance hope (too often 

 vain) of taking a few specimens of yon insignificant little fly ; to stay for 

 hours in a dreary, silent wood, absorbed in watching and netting the ghost- 

 like insects which flit about him, until at last he is startled by hearing some 

 church bell in the distant town ring out the ghostly preachment " One ! " 

 To penetrate into the most secluded corners of the Highlands in search of 

 some special insect, and, indeed, to endure hardships which few people would 

 credit as being true. What entomologist has not had his adventures ? Some 

 gentlemen of the " pill box and net" could narrate personal adventures which 

 would put fiction to the blush. I have no doubt but our worthy Editor 

 Mr. Eobson, and Messrs. Gregson, Gardner, and the other Gentlemen whose 

 names adorn the front page of this magazine, could tell strange stories regard- 

 ing their entomological experiences. I am sure the readers of the Young 

 Naturalist would be delighted to hear what these veteran entomologists have 

 got to tell of their " strange experiences in search of insects." I have had 

 my fair share of mishaps, but cannot say that they in the least damped my 

 liking for insect collecting. In fact, they were often the very means of making 

 me all the more determined to persevere in the work in which I was engaged. 

 If I visited a preserved wood where some rare insects occurred, and being 

 met by the keeper, was taken to the proprietor's house and threatened with 



