THE SUBSTITUTE. 
127 
servations were penned that such 
would be the case. Several state- 
ments in reply have since been 
made, none of which, 1 think, call 
for any notice from me, hut my 
friends in different parts of the 
kingdom have so strongly urged 
me to reply that I now consent, 
solely with a view to give tliose 
.who know nothing of Brighton and 
its collectors a more correct idea 
of the position of things. Now 
then for Mr. Hemmings, and first 
let me thank him for his clear in- 
formation (‘ Substitute,’ No. 3) as 
to the capture of specimens: I 
place the most implicit reliance on 
the correctness of this statement. 
I have known Hemmings as a col- 
lector for many years, and I say 
confidently that I know no one 
less likely to have anything to do 
with passing off foreign insects as 
genuine British ones; but, at the 
same time, I must tell Hemmings 
that he has no right to grumble 
because other people have sources 
of information which he has not, 
or, as he phrases it, “ are better 
informed” than himself. In this 
case I have the misfortune to be 
“ better informed,” and should be 
only too' glad to he in a position 
to make active use of my informa- 
tion, hut unfortunately, at present, 
I cannot do as 1 wish, for reasons 
he will hereafter see. I feel the 
more surprised at Hemmings, be- 
cau.se he really is an entomologist. 
So much for Hemmings, and I now 
proceed to examine the statements 
purporting to be written by a man 
of quite a different stamp, — George 
Smith, of No. 9, King Street, 
Brighton. To those who know 
anything of Brighton and the re- 
lative positions of Smith and my- 
self I must apologize for noticing 
him. Well, this individual has 
given us no less than three dif- 
ferent statements as to the captttres 
of empi/rea (see ‘ Substitute,’ Nos. 
3, 4 and 5), no two of wdiich agree 
either as to dates or numbers, — 
indeed, the difference is so great 
that the editor no doubt thought 
they referred to different transac- 
tions, or he would never have been 
so far imposed on as to print the 
same story three times over in dif- 
ferent terms ; the last of these 
three statements is disluictly styled 
a “ truthful” one ; is this intended 
as an admission that the two former 
were intentionally false? That 
empyrea has been captured I know 
perfectly well, but I beg to say 
most distinctly that I do not place 
the slightest reliance on either of 
these three statements signed by 
Smith ; 1 utterly discard them as 
not being worth a moment’s con- 
sideration. These statements were 
not written by Smith at all, but 
were composed by different indi- 
viduals for, and copied or signed 
by him : 1 happen to know where 
and by whom the precious docu- 
ments were concocted. One 
individual connected with their 
production is honest enough iu 
himself, but I place no faith in 
the statement he has produced, for 
the simple reason that he derived 
his information from Smith. For 
the present I have done with 
Smith. Now for a few general 
observations on the subject of em- 
pyrea, and the introduction of 
foreign specimens of that and 
other species to Brighton. From 
rumours afloat in this town I was 
led to suspect that there were 
foreign specimens of several spe- 
cies then here with a view to their 
being passed off as British : I im- 
