THE ENTOMOLOGISTS 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 140.] SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 1859. [Price Id. 
AT HOME. 
A short time ago we received a letter, 
in which we read as follows: — 
“ Having but recently commenced the 
study of Entomology, and only lately 
purchased the five completed volumes 
of the ‘Intelligencer’ and commenced 
taking in the numbers of the present 
volume, I am anxious for some informa- 
tion respecting your excursions and “ at 
home,” so frequently announced. I am 
sure, therefore, you will excuse my 
troubling you wilh this letter, and will 
kindly explain to me the nature of your 
excursions, and what is meant by your 
being “at home:” of course I know 
what “at home” means in its usual 
sense, but what are entomologists to 
understand by your announcement.” 
Now when we receive such a letter 
as this we are always disposed to look 
upon the writer, not as a single indi- 
vidual, but as the type of a class ; the 
questions which one gentleman has here 
put, others probably have thought of 
putting, but have not done so. For 
the satisfaction, therefore, of all others 
who have felt disposed to ask similar 
questions, we reply publicly. 
It is now nearly fourteen years ago 
since we were calling one evening at 
the house of an entomological friend, 
and we happened to ask him the names 
of some two or three moths, which he 
was not prepared to give with certainty 
off-hand, and he proposed that, as it was 
Wednesday evening , and Mr. Stephens 
was “at home” on Wednesday, we 
should consult him on the knotty points. 
Mr. Stephens had then for many years 
devoted his Wednesday evenings to the 
service of entomologists. Any one, in- 
cipient or professor, who wished to ob- 
tain information on any branch of 
Entomology, or to see Mr. Stephens’ 
valuable and interesting collection, had 
only to call at Eltham Cottage some 
Wednesday eveuing, without any pre- 
vious appointment or intimation that 
he was coming, and there he would be 
sure to find Mr. Stephens, with imper- 
turbable good humour, happy to place 
his collections and books at the service 
of the stranger, and also to assist him 
personally in his investigations. 
What pleasant reunions those were! 
Many a time, ten years ago, did we 
incite half a dozen Micro-Lepidopterisls 
to drop in simultaneously some Wednes- 
day evening, and two or three hours 
sped rapidly away whilst we were 
poring over books and drawers. Alas! 
those days are gone, never to return! 
In 1852 Mr. Stephens died ; his col- 
lections went to the British Museum, 
and his library came to Mountsfield. 
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