THE BUTTERFLY TRADE. 
I HERE are probably hundreds, 
4 I if not thousands, of butterfly 
q) I collectors in this country, says 
the Boston Transcript. But it 
is doubtful if there are many who gain 
their livelihood in this way, as is done 
by the four Denton brothers of 
Wellesley, who have among them one 
of the finest, and certainly one of the 
most beautiful collections in the world, 
comprising specimens from India, 
China, South America, and many other 
distant countries. 
Large and fine as their collection is, 
however, it contains only a small part 
of the butterflies that they have 
collected, as almost all of them are sold 
to museums, and collectors, or simply 
as house ornaments, for as they 
mount them, they are objects of great 
beauty and are preserved in such a 
way as to give every opportunity for 
the display of their fine points, while 
they will last for an indefinite number 
of years. 
They began this work in the usual 
amateur manner, and simply for their 
own amusement, but instead of becom- 
ing tired of it and dropping it, as is 
the case with most amateur collectors, 
they became more and more interested, 
and their methods attracted so much 
attention and interest in outsiders that 
they finally found it advisable to adopt 
this as their life work. How exten- 
sive a business it is may be judged 
from the fact that they have found it 
profitable to make a journey of six 
months to South America for the pur- 
pose of increasing the size of their 
collection, and that they have in India, 
China, and several other parts of the 
world agents who collect for them and 
ship the butterflies to them here. 
The work of preparing the butter- 
flies for sale and exhibition is all done 
in a small building back of their house 
on Washington street at Wellesley, 
and keeps them busy nearly all the 
time that they are not collecting. 
When the butterflies are sent or 
brought in, each is in a small paper 
folder, which protects it from friction 
or breakage. The insects are laid with 
their wings together and pressed, being 
then put into the folder, and shipped 
in small boxes, enough being put into 
each box to prevent them from slip- 
ping about. In this way the insects 
arrive in very good condition, although 
they are, of course, very dry and 
brittle if they have come a long 
distance. In order to get rid of this 
dryness, which would make it impos- 
sible to work on them, they are put 
into a box with a lot of wet paper, and 
the dampness from this soon saturates 
them and makes them soft again and 
easily shaped. The next part of the 
work is in repairing what damage they 
have sustained, for, of course, in spite 
of the care of shipping, they are not 
as perfect as before they were caught, 
and there is a great deal of delicate 
work on them before they are ready 
for exhibition or sale. 
Mounted, a drawer full of butter- 
flies is more beautiful than a collection 
of precious gems, for, although many 
of our native butterflies are exceed- 
ingly beautiful, they are not to be 
compared with the average of those 
from India, China, and South America. 
In these dead, heavy black alternates 
with brilliant crimson, yellow, and 
gold, livid greens and blues, and deep, 
rich garnet and purple, sometimes in 
broad bands and blotches of glowing 
color, and in others in wonderfully 
delicate and intricate traceries and 
patterns. The texture of the wings is 
also infinitely more beautiful than any- 
thing we have here, some of them 
having a heavy rich gloss that exceeds 
that on the finest fabric that human 
skill can produce, while others have 
the deep changing lustre of gems or 
liquids. 
