06 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



causes of failure. Punctuality too is 

 as great a necessity as perseverance. 

 It makes little matter what branch of 

 Natural History you are pursuing, you 

 must do what you have to do at the 

 proper season. In some cases you 

 must be punctual almost to a day, in 

 others almost to a minute. You will 

 not -find spring plants in bloom in July 

 or August. You will not find those 

 birds in Winter, that visit us only in 

 the Summer. If you want eggs you 

 must look for them in April or May. 

 Put off till June and you may get an 

 odd nest with the eggs " hard set," 

 but in 



July," 



" The birds begin to fly." 

 Greater punctuality is perhaps needed 

 for Entomologists than any one else. 

 Y T ou must not only go for certain insects 

 at the right time of year, but at the 

 proper time for their flight. Some 

 species that fly during the day, prefer 

 the morning's sun, others like the 

 greater heat of mid-day, while others 

 again only come from their retreat as 

 the sun declines. At night it is the 

 same thing, one species may be taken 

 on the wing, as twilight steals over the 

 face of the earth , another appears so 

 soon as it is quite dark, while others 

 will come out at still later hours, and 

 more than one species has been taken 

 most freely after midnight. How are 

 you to know the varied periods at 

 which your game may be taken. Some 

 information you can doubtless gather 

 from books, but not much ; experience 

 is the best teacher. Never mind what 



others have done, what have you done I 

 yourself? When did you take that I 

 specimen, and where ? You do not re- 

 member ! Then you ought to remem- I 

 ber. How can you expect to get more 

 ©f them, if you neither know when you 

 got it nor where ? That you did not 

 know the species was all the more 

 reason why you ought to have taken t 

 care to remember all particulars of its 

 capture. Suppose it had been new to , 



| the British fauna, who would have ; 



< believed in it if you could give no de- j 

 tails of its capture 1 llydrilla palustris I 

 was for a long time doubted as a Bri- 

 tish insect, because the first specimen 

 taken was carelessly pinned against 

 the wall by its captor, and not an- 

 nounced for some time after. Many a 

 British Daplidice has been passed by 

 as a female Cardamhies, or looked on 

 very doubtfully because nothing was 

 known of its history. Instances could 

 be enumerated without end, but this 

 article is quite long enough. Let us 

 enumerate before we close, with extra 

 emphasis, the conditions of success. 

 First, Perseverance — never be discour- 

 aged, try again, and again after that, 

 and if success is still wanting, try 

 again, and again, and again. Second, 

 Punctuality- — never put off till to-mor- 

 row what you can do to-day. To-mor- \ 

 row never comes. It is better to be 

 too soon, and have to go again, than 

 too late. Who would not rather wait 

 fifteen minutes at the Railway Station, 

 and catch his train, than arrive fifteen 

 seconds after it moved out. Third, 

 Forget nothing — and in order to re- 



