Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Foreign Butterflies.djvu/75

Rh race that, subsisting entirely on hunting and fishing, must often be reduced to great straits.

These insects were, no doubt, the first that attracted the attention of naturalists, in consequence of their imposing appearance and striking metamorphoses. Collections of them began to be made at an early time, and were valued not only by the lover of nature, but by those who had no farther or more worthy design in view than to possess them as objects highly ornamental. Very extensive collections exist in nearly all the principal cities and museums of Europe; and many are to be found throughout Britain, not only belonging to public institutions for promoting natural history, but also in the possession of private individuals. One of the best conditioned collections of exotic lepidoptera in this country, is that in the possession of the East India Company, made in Java by Dr. Horsfield. As the method followed by that gentleman for preserving his specimens was attended with great success, the following account of it will be interesting and useful to those who have opportunities of making collections in foreign countries:—"During the inquiries I made," says Dr. Horsfield, "in the early part of my residence in Java, to become acquainted with the best methods for securing what I obtained in my excursions, I noticed the plan described by Le Vaillant in his Travels in Africa, for the preservation of entomological collections. It is the following:—Boxes or chests carefully made of light