THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCEK. 
191 
one writer exposing the bad, the other 
telling us of the good, done by his 
neighbour or friend. I am going to 
speak of what I, in common with others, 
think to be a great evil, and must in the 
end tend to bring disgrace on our 
science, or, in other words, cause those 
who rejoice in the name of naturalist to 
wish they belonged to some other class. 
During this last season some amateurs 
in town, having some gold to spare, and 
perhaps not caring to be immersed up 
to their neck in mud, or not wishing to 
catch that fearful disease, ague, or be 
subjected to the fearful fogs which so 
generally prevail in the marshes, sent 
agents down to explore those marshes 
and the Norfolk coast. Now, these 
gentlemen are not to blame for doing 
what they-supposed to be for their own 
good and the good of others. But I 
will come at once to the point, and leave 
you and your readers to judge how far 
my argument is worth being used. 
A person made his appearance lately 
in the fens. He stated that his object 
was to collect specimens in Natural His- 
tory for gentlemen in London, &c. A 
few days after he was seen at Great 
Yarmouth, with net and bottle. At last 
he left there, but no one knew where he 
had gone. He had paid his bills like a 
gentleman. I had occasion to pay a visit 
to the town of Hull and other places, for 
the purpose of collecting, when I hap- 
pened to meet with this individual. He 
had with him a box of insects, which at 
the time I saw him was undergoing the 
Custom House authorities’ search. I 
was informed that he had come from 
Hamburg. He was not aware that I 
was a collector, and I did not at the time 
take any notice. It is only right for me 
to say that I saw a large number of 
insects, Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, all 
set in the English manner. Shortly 
after this, on my way home, I again 
fell in with this person. He was on the 
way to Yarmouth. While travelling we 
conversed upon various subjects, but 
nothing was said about insects. On our 
arrival at Yarmouth a lady was waiting 
to see him, and they went away together. 
A day or two after I called on a friend 
who had bought a pair of Antiopa said 
to have been caught at Hickling. The 
gentleman in question is not a collector, 
but the insect being, as he said, so gay, 
and never having seen one like it before, 
he bought a pair ; and he told me who 
he had bought them of. Afterwards I 
saw the same lady and gentleman in a 
railway carriage in which I rode to 
Beccles, from which station, at 11.15 
A.M., they proceeded, with their luggage, 
as I believe to London. 
Now, as Antiopa was sold, and as I 
distinctly saw Machaon, Edusa, Latho- 
nia (2), and several others, I may perhaps 
be deemed not uncharitable in supposing 
they will be passed off on some indivi- 
dual, and perhaps exchanged as British 
by the so-called amateur dealers. I wish, 
injustice to a brother collector who re- 
sides out of London some little distance, 
and who I am informed visited the fens, 
not to think that these remarks are meant 
to apply to him, as I can most faithfully 
tell him that he is not the individual re- 
ferred to. 
My object in writing this is to put 
gentlemen on their guard, should any at- 
tempt be made to impose on them the 
so-called Norfolk insects. 
Should any one feel himself injured 
by this exposure, I shall be happy to 
answer, either privately or publicly, any 
letter on the subject. 
I am. Sir, 
Your obedient Servant, 
W. Winter. 
Aldeby, Sept. 3. 1861. 
