278 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



made — thanks to falling in with a good 

 cabinet maker — and when spring came 

 we were eager for the fray. The "dear 

 old Intelligencer", was then in existence, 

 and some kind Entomologists then as 

 now occasionally offered to give species 

 away. "We got a box from one gentle- 

 man and found out what wretched 

 abortions our finest specimens were. 

 "We fell in with a, collector from another 

 place, once when out with our net. He 

 taught us how to set. and told us what 

 species that we could get were " good 

 for exchange." By autumn we had a 

 goodly number that we ventured to 

 offer in the Intelligencer,, and we ob- 

 tained many species we could not get 

 at home, and some that were common 

 enough as we found out. in time. 

 Butterflies only were what we sought 

 to obtain. We now had three more 

 cases made exactly like the first, with 

 the idea that they would do for a cabin- 

 et by and by. Then we arranged our 

 butterflies according to the Manual, 

 leaving blanks for those species we had 

 not got. By this time we had taken 

 •over twenty butterflies and obtained 

 nearly as many more in exchange, and 

 when arranged they made a respectable 

 show. We got no further this season. 

 During the winter we had half-a-dozen 

 more cases made, and ventured to 

 .arrange ourHawks andBombyces. What 

 blanks there were. We had one Con- 

 volvuU and a few of the commoner 

 species. It was an old Scotchman who 

 brought the Co&vokmti, alive, and he in- 

 sisted it was a "huxdL" We pointed 

 out it had six legs., -eager to show our 



knowledge. "Never mind its legs," 

 said he, "look at its breest, it has 

 feathers, it's a burd." We again called 

 his attention to the number of its wings, 

 only to get the same answer, "never 

 mind its wings, look at its breest, it has 

 feathers on, it's a burd." But " burd " 

 or beast, it was Convolvuli, and was a 

 wonderful addition to our scanty stock 

 of Hawks, Exchanging this year filled 

 up many blanks, and by the end of the 

 time, we had a cabinet made to fit our 

 drawers, and had more made until we 

 could squeeze in the whole of the 

 British Lepidoptera, Micros as well as 

 Macros. This arrangement served for 

 a good many years, though we never 

 went in earnestly for the Micros, and 

 though the drawers of the cabinet are 

 not a very convenient size, they are still 

 in use. Now that cabinets can be 

 bought of any size and at any price, we 

 would not recommend any one to follow 

 our example in this particular, but we 

 do not know if beginners can do much 

 better than we did in other respects. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



All communications to be sent to J. E. Eobson, Bellerby 

 Terrace, West Hartlepool-; or to S. L. Moslet, Beau- 

 mont Park, Huddersfield. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Dear Sir. —-The enclosed pill-boxes con- 

 tain brown-coloured pupae I found attached 

 to palings last month. In the shape and 

 form 1 took *hem to be P. rapes, but the 

 colour wa? different, so 1 boxed them, and 

 to-day I find they contain numerous Ichneu- 

 mon which I suppose caused the colour to 

 change. They may he qxdts common to 



