ure dew."

A story is told of an undergraduate who united the hind wings of a
butterfly to the body and fore wings of one of a different species,
and, thinking to puzzle Professor Westwood, then the entomological
authority at Oxford, asked if the Professor could tell him "what kind
of a bug" it was. "Yes," was the immediate reply--"a humbug!"

One of my schoolfellows, a boy about eleven, at Rottingdean school,
and quite a novice at butterfly collecting, met a professional
"naturalist" on the Warren at Folkestone, who inquired what he had
taken. "Only a few whites," said the boy. The man looked at them and,
eventually, they negotiated an exchange, the boy accepting three or
four others for an equal number of the whites. On reaching home he
found that he had parted with specimens of the rare Bath White,
_Pieris daplidice_, for some quite common butterflies. The Bath White
is not recognized as a British species, Newman supposing the specimens
taken in this country to have been blown over or migrated from the
northern coast of France, as they have been rarely met with away from
the shores of Kent and Sussex.

It is surprising to find so many people who seem unable to exercise
their powers of observation to the extent of noticing the butterflies
they daily pass in the garden, or along the roads. One would expect
that the marvellous colouring of even our common butterflies would
arrest attention, and that interest in the names and life-history
would follow.

In June in the Forest the rather alarming stag-beetle is to be seen on
the wing on a warm evening; though really harmless, its size and habit
of buzzing round frightens people who are not acquainted with its
ways. They are called locally, "pinch-bucks," as their horns resemble
the antlers of a buck, and they can nip quite hard by pressing them
together. I once saw a fight between a stag-beetle and a toad, it had
evidently been proceeding for some time as both combatants were
exhausted, but neither had gained any special advantage.

CHAPTER XXIV.

CYCLING--PAGEANTS OF THE ROADS--ROADSIDE CREATURES--HARMONIOUS
BUILDING--COLLECTING OLD FURNITURE AND CHINA.

"I may soberly confess that sometimes, walking abroad after
my studies, I have been almost mad with pleasure--the effect
of nature upon my soul having been inexpressibly ravishing
and beyond what I can convey to you."
--JOHN INGLESANT.

I