ifte t)mmg Jtaturalist : 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 38. JULY 17th, 1880. Vol. 1. 



)N LABELLING A COLLEC- 

 TION OF LEPIDOPTERA. 



N No. 3 we published an article "On 

 Forming a Collection of Lepi- 

 optera," and in No. H'> an article on 

 letting, the chief object of both being 

 3 induce collectors to pay more atten- 

 j.on to the proper authentication of 

 heir specimens than is generally done. 

 pO exceedingly conservative are we as 

 nation that we have little hope of 

 lducing those who have been collect- 

 lg for years to abandon any of their old 

 abits, but if we can persuade those who 

 ve just beginning to collect to adopt 

 etter modes, we shall be satisfied, 

 ne object that we have in view is to 

 Ejbvince collectors, that it is as necces- 

 iry for them to know where their speci- 

 lens come from, as to have representa- 

 ves of the nations species in their 

 ibinets. Strong as is the prejudice in 

 vourof collecting only British Species 

 id specimens that were actually found 

 Britain, it is astonishing how 

 loroughly careless most of collectors 

 •e as to where their specimens were 

 roamed. A long row of a rare insect 

 ay be seen in a cabinet, and they are 

 1 British — he would not admit a 

 Ireign specimen on any account. Ask 

 jere they were taken. Part of them 



where got from a dealer — perhaps one 

 of doubtful reputation, part were had 

 in exchange, but the question of where 

 they occurred never entered the owner's 

 mind. He was satisfied they were 

 British— he was told so, and surely 

 that was enough. But even where the 

 greatest care is taken t© authenticate 

 every specimen, the collector who 

 trusts to his memory for their history, 

 leans on a broken reed, We do not 

 propose to-day to go over the ground 

 again, but we ask our readers to look 

 over the articles we have named in 

 Nos. ;-3 and 16, and we can then take 

 up the subject where they leave it. 



Insects are generally arranged in 

 parallel rows of such length as the size 

 of the drawers allow, or the ideas of 

 the collector deem sufficient. Some 

 will appropriate a row the length of 

 the drawers to each species, large or 

 small, others will make half a row 

 serve. Some again fix a certain num- 

 ber of specimens, and stick to that 

 whether the species be variable or not. 

 The rows, whatever their length, are 

 generally divided, either by a line 

 drawn down the paper covering of the 

 drawer bottom, or by a black thread 

 stretehed on small pins. The name 

 of the species, cut from a list 



