THE SUBSTITUTE; 
Or, Entomological Exchange Facilitator, and 
Entomologist’s Fire-side Companion. 
N 
'No. 13.] ■ SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1857. [Price 
MERE COLLECTORS. 
The term “collectors” has been 
applied rather invidiously to those 
: persons who make a collection of 
1 insects for their amusement and 
ttake no interest in the Science of 
lEntomoloa^y. Doubtless it is to 
:be wished that the collections 
)were made subservient to a scien- 
: tific purpose, yet we think there is 
I much to be said for the mere col- 
lector. Man is an accumulating 
: animal ; he has an instinct for 
f gathering objects together without 
•much reference to their utility, 
tand it is surely belter that this 
i impulse should take the direction 
of collecting an assemblage of in- 
•■sects — the most beautiful and 
■■’'wonderful of the works of Nature 
— rather than one of snuff-boxes, 
jpottery, or any more worthless 
: forms on which man has exercised 
ihis artistic skill, and which the 
ffancy of individuals has from time 
ito time led them to amass. Not 
tthcit we would say one word 
■ against any collection of objects 
riR-hich can illustrate the history of 
i.:nan, or even his whims and 
follies, but we hold that, viewed 
merely as articles of curiosity, no 
results of man’s ingenuity, however 
wonderful in themselves, can for a 
moment be compared with the 
lowest of the productions of Na- 
ture’s attelier. There are also 
many incidental advantages at- 
tending the formation of a cabinet 
of insects by one who takes the 
living specimens. He is of ne- 
cessity abroad in the open air, and 
is brought into immediate contact 
with all the lights and shades of 
still and animated Nature, in ad- 
dition to the special objects of his 
pursuit. All of them, perfect in 
their kind and linked together by 
the most admirable relationships, 
make up a picture which the mind 
never ceases to contemplate and 
revert to with delight. “ The 
poetry of earth is never dead — it 
may not affect all men alike, be- 
cause all have not “ the feeling 
and the faculty divine” in equal 
measure, but no one is entirely 
destitute of the power of appre- 
ciating iieauly, and the entomolo- 
gist is always in possession of the 
conditions favourable for its culti- 
vation within him. We do not 
o 
