1883.] 
Th$ British Mania . 
607 
of comparatively unexplored countries is thus seriously 
hindered. A traveller, let us suppose, has formed extensive 
collections in some such country, and in order partially to 
defray his expenses, he offers his duplicates for sale. Save 
for a few large and showy forms he finds that there is no 
market. Everywhere he hears the cuckoo cry, “ I only 
collect British.” 
I will now glance at some of the excuses offered by the 
British maniacs for their singularity. The first is that a 
man may hope to get a “ complete ” collection of British 
species, but that if he extends his operations to the whole 
world, the task will be beyond his time, his space, and his 
resources. I should think, on the contrary, that the very 
finite character of an exclusively British collection, not an 
advantage, but a defect. At the same time, admitting that 
a general collection, even of a single “ order ” of insects, is 
beyond the scope of most private individuals, I submit that 
there are other modes of limiting our attention, which would 
be more interesting and more useful to science. The 
collector might limit himself to some particular family as 
occurring over the known world. Or, taking up the subject 
from a zoogeographical point of view, he might confine 
himself to some region or sub-region. A collection of the 
world’s Garabidse, Chrysomelidae, Sphingidse, Coreidag, &c. ; 
or, again, one of the Lepidoptera of the Mediterranean basin, 
or of the Neuroptera of the Antillean sub-region, would be 
far more instructive than the everlasting British displays 
that meet our disappointed gaze. But do such collections, 
complete or otherwise, exist ? 
Another very common plea is that of convenience. It is 
easier, we are told, to form a British than a foreign collec- 
tion. This is, at the present day, very doubtful. The 
collector who wishes to capture his specimens personally, 
will find an entomological tour in many parts of the Con- 
tinent easier and cheaper than, say, a visit to the Shetland 
Islands, the Hebrides, the west of Ireland, &c. Abroad, too, 
he will be less inconvenienced by the trespass laws, which, 
in all ordinary circumstances, do not extend to waste lands, 
heaths, deserts, &c., as they do in this our highly-favoured 
country. 
If he wishes to form his collection by purchase, he will 
find foreign specimens cheaper than British, and more 
frequently genuine. It is a fact that so-called British 
specimens of insects, birds, eggs, &c., are very frequently 
obtained from abroad, even from Siberia or Western Asia. 
Now, as many species vary locally, serious errors are thus 
