The TOUHS JIAT^JEAIJS?: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 113. JANUARY Tin, 1SS2. Vol. 3. 



I 



COLLECTORS AND COL- 

 LECTORS. 



No. 2. 



THE last specimen of a collector, 

 described in those pages, was not 

 a f^ood sample. The portrait was not 

 drawn altogether from imagination, but 

 traits of character from two ur three of 

 our acquaintance, were strung together, 

 making a very disagreeable whole. Yet 

 people are so ready to believe ill of i 

 another that no less than three individ- 

 uals, two of whom were previously 

 unknown to us even by name, have been 

 suggested as the original of the sketch, 

 and one of them has been so foolish as 

 to write and ask if we meant him. It 

 is unnecessary to say that his letter was 

 abusive, but we could only feel amused, 

 and we hope if there were any others 

 disposed to put the cap on they will do 

 ; 80 with a determination that it shall not 

 fit them for the future. To-day we will 

 present a character of a different kind, 

 and we beg to say that we know a good 

 many more than one or two to whom 

 much of it will apply. 



The Collector we would speak of now 

 is a Gentleman. We do not mean 

 that he is what is called gentle blood. 

 We do not mean that he is of indepen- 



dent means. He may be only a poor 

 working man. He may even belong to 

 the softer sex, if we may include the 

 ladies under that term. We have heard 

 of a speaker at a meeiing who addressed 

 all his hearers as " Brethren," because, 

 says he, the Brethren embrace the 

 Sisters." So we may be allowed to 

 include the ladies under a general term 

 that we wish to have reference, not to 

 : sex, but to tone of mind and character. 

 This collector, then, is a Gentleman. 

 He would not tell a lie. He would 

 not tell the truth in such a way as to 

 convey a wrong impression. If he give 

 you any information you may depend 

 upon it being strictly accurate. His 

 love of truth is so great that he has 

 been imposed upon by unscrupulous 

 persons more than once ; for being 

 strictly truthful by nature, he does not 

 doubt others. As a collector he works 

 hard. Not in spasmodic fits and starts, 

 but with regular unchanging assiduity. 

 When he finds anything good, he takes as 

 many specimens as he conveniently can, 

 always avoidinganyrisk of extermination. 

 If his prize be very local, he will leave it 

 for a year or two after his first captures, 

 so that it may increase and multiply, 

 then he will go regularly, perhaps, and 



