190 
THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCEK. 
his friends, but the whole entomological 
community ; the former motive miserably 
contemptible, the latter praiseworthy, 
and demanding our warmest thanks. 
The practice of sending children to col- 
lect iraagos of lepidopterous insects 
cannot be approved, as at least one-half 
of those so captured must be more or 
less injured, but it does not follow because 
thirty were seen collecting that all were 
sent by Mr. Birchall, the young gentle- 
man with the pickle-bottle to wit. By 
the way, how did Mr. Gregson ascertain 
the exact number of thirty-five dozen in 
the said pickle-bottle ? However that 
may be, we all know and have long 
known Mr. Birchall’s disregard of trouble 
and expense, so that he can procure spe- 
cimens for gratuitous dislributiou ; many 
of us are able in consequence to rejoice 
in good series of not only N. zonaria, 
but also of Z. minos, B. Bankiana and 
others. On this point Mr. Birchall is 
infinitely beyond the reach of the in- 
sinuations of Mr. Gregson or any other 
man. 
Mr. Hawley, my old friend and col- 
lecting companion through many a sunny 
day and dewy night, seems to have 
become horrified at the “ wholesale 
slaughter” chronicled in the ‘Intelli- 
gencer.’ Now persons who live in glass 
houses should not throw stones. Does 
he not recollect those halcyon days, now 
more than twenty-five years ago, when 
we used to return home together, exulting 
in long rows of Triphmna fimbria, and 
anxious beyond all expression to know 
whether we had been more successful 
than our competitors, Keid and the Rev. 
F. 0. Morris, both of whom were at that 
time vigorous enough to give the young 
oaks in which Fimbria rested most sturdy 
shakings, but limes are changed, and so 
are we. 
Much has been said about exchange ; 
it aiipears to me to be of two kinds, but 
which have been confounded by some of 
your correspondents. If a friend writes 
to me for insects which he knows I pos- 
sess in duplicate, and requests I will in 
return mention some that would be 
acceptable to me, that he may not have 
to send back my box empty, I hold that 
we make a gentlemanly exchange. On 
the other hand, mere collectors and 
dealers pursue the practice now carried 
on through the pages of the ‘ Intelli- 
gencer,’ and which is best conveyed by 
the term barter, a word not found in the 
vocabulary of the naturalist. 
While I am on paper allow me to 
offer a suggestion through your pages, 
namely, that more attention be paid to 
obtaining and distributing the ova of 
Lepidopterous insects, and thus avoid 
the necessity for the wholesale capture of 
local species. A still greater advantage 
arises from rearing from the egg : every 
collector obtaining his specimens in this 
manner necessarily becomes acquainted 
with their habits and transformations, 
and thus an amount of knowledge and 
enjoyment is obtained which it is next 
to impossible to acquire in any other way. 
At present there is too eager desire to 
possess collections without a knowledge 
of the habits of the insects represented. 
Better far" to be a field naturalist, search- 
ing out and following after the wonders 
of insect life, without either cabinet or 
specimen, than to go with the present 
eager crowd in its wild desire for “ sets ” 
and “ series.’’ 
Yours, >Scc., 
Geoege Gascoyne. 
Newark ; August 31. 
To the Editor of the ‘Intelligencer.' 
Sir, — Much has been written of late 
respecting the doings of amateur dealers, 
