THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 50.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1857. [Price 1 d. 
YOUNG BARNES. 
You may easily fancy that for a few 
years this eminent individual contrived 
to drive a very thriving trade ; he kept 
a regular diary of all the good things 
anybody had taken, and then, if he 
failed to succeed in his first attempt at 
obtaining “ a fine specimen of Alni,” 
he remembered when and where it was 
taken, and when the next season came 
round he would write to remind the 
unfortunate captor that his (Barnes’) 
collection was still ungraced by the 
presence of Alni, and that a specimen 
would be very acceptable; he would 
then enlarge upon the good things he 
expected shortly to meet with himself, 
of course leaving it to be inferred that 
he should have duplicates of all these 
things to give in exchange for the 
much -coveted Alni. 
Of course he succeeded in the end; 
it is almost impossible to fail of success, 
if to intense desire to obtain a thing you 
add a great amount of perseverance, a 
fair amount of cleverness, and a total 
unconsciousness where right ends and 
wrong begins. Sometimes young Barnes 
stumbled against people from whom he 
got nothing but rebuffs, but the majority 
of his correspondents were not of this 
class, and so, on the whole, he was well 
satisfied with his success, and saw no 
reason to regret the career he had 
chalked out for himself. 
Oh ! he was a clever fellow was that 
young Barnes ! 
****** 
Years have passed away. Barnes is 
no longer young. His entomological 
career came abruptly to a close; some 
very strange rumours were current of 
his doings, and so much did these get 
bruited abroad that gradually his cor- 
respondents ceased to answer his letters, 
and the corresponding mode of adding 
to his collection no longer brought its 
usual accession of treasures. In a short 
time he had no correspondents ; the 
growing-up race of schoolboys being 
generally cautioned by their elder bro- 
thers or uncles “ not to correspond with 
Barnes.” His collection then only in- 
creased by his own exertions: he strove 
hard all one summer in pursuit of a new 
fen insect, without even seeing it, though 
he saw many captures of it by others 
announced. This completely sickened 
him, and from that time he lost all 
his love for the pursuit of insects ; he 
never looked at his collection ; the mites 
roamed unmolested over the once-trea- 
sured moths, obtained so remorselessly 
from their actual captors. 
Latterly he had fallen iuto difficulties, 
and at length, unable to pay his rent, 
his goods were seized, his cabinet was 
2 B 
