THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



291 



Duplicates. — Fine bred Ocellatus, Bctu- 

 laria, and larvae of Ocellatus and Ligustri. 

 Desiderata. — Rubi, Carpini, and many 

 others, or named Hymenoptcra, well set 

 specimens only sent or received. — G. 

 PuLLEN, Free Library and Museeum, 

 Derby. 



PITY THE SORROWS OF A 

 POOR NATURALIST. 



By Geo. P. Stather, Huddersfield. 



Read at a meeting of the H: ddersfiell Natural- 

 ists' Field Clnb. 

 It is related of Euclid that on one occa- 

 sion, after he had successfully demonstrated 

 a complicated and difficult problem, his king 

 who was present asked him if there was not 

 an easier and simpler way of solving the 

 question. The wise old mathematician 

 shook his head and answered that there 

 was no royal road to geometry. This 

 famous saying has been handed down and 

 applied to learning generally, and it does 

 seem to be a great natural law, admitting 

 of very little, if any, exception, that things 

 worth having are not to be obtained without 

 a certain amount of difficulty and pains- 

 taking, and hence, as a natural sc'iuence, 

 every pursuit or hobby has its drawbacks. 

 If we arc musically inclined and have set 

 our affections on the piano, there is the 

 constant tendency to get out of tune, neces- 

 sitating visits of the tuner — visits by no 

 means of the angelic character, "few and 

 far between," — and causing serious inroads 

 on our modest allowance of pocket-money. 

 Should we betake ourselves to the violin — 

 that king of instruments — the matter is not 

 much mended, for apart from the enor- 

 mously increased labour of learning, there 

 is always the chance of your E string break- 

 ing at a critical moment. It is extraordinary, 

 by the way, what a knack these strings have 

 of snapping at the most awkward and in- 



opportune time; just, for instance, as you 

 are in the midst of an exciting presto move- 

 ment from some grand classical concerto, 

 crack goes a string, hitting you, probably, a 

 smart blow across the nose, and covering 

 you with shame and confusion of face. Or 

 say we do not care for music, but dote on 

 flower gardening : then what torments await 

 us. What martyrs we are to our neighbours' 

 cats or poultry, and isn't our vocabulary in 

 a fair way of being enriched by the addition 

 of a new and original assortment of strong 

 expressions. Does our taste incline us to 

 join the volunteers and enrol ourselves 

 among our country's defenders, then how 

 often are our feelings wounded and our 

 dignity insulted by such salutations as 

 "Eds hup," " Right shoulder three-quarter 

 march," "Who shot the cat?" and soon. 

 But I will not delate longer o.i the painful 

 theme. Perhaps enough has been said to 

 prove the rule that every pursuit has some 

 drawback — a rule to which the study of 

 natural history is not an excepfion, — though 

 it must in fairness be added that the advan- 

 tages and pleasures far more than counter- 

 balance the inconveniences and disappoint- 

 ments. 



Have you ever, dear hearer, gone to the 

 fruiterer and bought a pottle of strawberries ? 

 You have. Has it ever occurred to you to 

 wonder by what law of nature the big 

 strawberries always rise to the top while 

 the little ones sink to the bottom ? I confess 

 it is a problem that has taxed my feeble 

 powers as much probably as the famous 

 question " How the apples got inside the 

 dumplings" puzzled George III. I begin 

 to suspect that the solution which enlight- 

 ened the king will apply to my case, that it 

 is the law of art, not of nature ; and the 

 strawberries, like the apples, are there 

 because they are put there. Now we might, 

 if we were worldwise, follow the example of 

 a British shopkeeper, put our big straw- 

 berries at the top, and expatiate on the joys 



