Parsons: Hints on Natural Histoey Collecting. 87 



splenium from the yellow colour of its flower, and because it was 

 thought to be a cure for diseases of the spleen, and that the commoner 

 kind is called oppositifolium because its leaves are opposite, whereas ia 

 the other species they are alternate. Opposite-leaved golden saxi- 

 frage is just as long. 



Besides the want of judgment and system in observing and 

 recording, there is another circumstance which frequently renders the 

 collections of amateurs of little or no value, viz., that they too often 

 confine their attention to certain well-known and conspicuous orders 

 of animals and plants, to the neglect of others equally important but 

 less attractive. Thus, of people who call themselves entomologists, 

 nine out of ten collect only lepidoptera, and many only butterflies ; 

 even of the lepidoptera the smaller and less conspicuous families, as 

 the Tineid(s, are usually neglected, while the other orders of insects, 

 as the Hymenoptera — bees, wasps, and ants — the beetles, the two- 

 winged flies, the dragon-flies, the Orthoptera — grasshoppers, &c.,- — 

 remain an unknown world, although many of the insects of these 

 orders far surpass the lepidoptera in the beautiful adaptations of their 

 organs, in the interest attaching to their habits, and in their 

 importance to mankind. There are, in fact, fashions among collectors 

 in natural history as in other things. For instance, every one who 

 has a few big stones piled up together in a corner of his garden, 

 collects ferns, and digs up the choice kinds by the barrow-load to 

 plant on his rockwork, where they will not grow, selfishly ignoring 

 those who will come after him ; thug most of our rarer ferns are 

 rapidly becoming extinct. On the other hand, there is another order 

 of plants, called TJmhellifercB, rather more numerous in Britain than 

 the feras, some being among our commonest plants, and others 

 among the rarest. In beauty of foliage they are at least equal to the 

 ferns, and in usefulness to mankind they far surpass them. They 

 have not, it is true, as a rule attractive flowers, but neither have the 

 ferns ; the British species have well-marked characters, and are easily 

 identified. Yet, while ferns are sought after so regularly, TJmbellifercB 

 are slighted and passed by. I have often heard amateur botanists 

 say, " Oh ! I never attempt the UmhellifercB^' ; and while' a fern is a 

 thing for a bouquet, a picture, or a sonnet, carrots and parsley are 

 scarcely spoken of without a sneer. I rather think, however, that 

 the utility of a thing often tends to lessen the estimation in which it 

 is held by us ; thus the swan, which is merely ornamental, is esteemed 

 a nobler bird than the more useful, if less dignified goose. " It is too 

 common to neglect ugly and uninteresting-looking creatures. This 



