The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-19

| display OF their fine points, while they viii
| last for an indefinite number of years.
They began this work in the usual anna
teur manner, and simply for their own
| amusement, but instead of becoming tired
| OF II and dropping it as is the case with
| most amateur collectors they became
more and more interested. and their meth
| DDS attracted so much attention and in
| terest In outsiders that they finally found
| IL advisable to adopt this as their life
! work. How extensive a business 1t is
| may be judged from the fact that trey
nave found il profitable to make a jour
| ney OF six months to South America for
| the purpose of increasing the size of their
collection, and that they have in India
/ emma, and several other parts of the
world agents who collect for them and
| ship the butterflies to them here
The work of preparing the butterflies
for sale and exhibition Is all done in
| smaH building back of their house on
| washington street a Wellesley, and keeps
! them busy nearly all the TINA that they
are not collecting When the buttsrfi 'es
are sent or brought in. each is in a small
/ paper folder. which protects 1t from fric-
/ ton or hreakage. The insects are laid
| with their wings together and pressed, be-
| ing then put into the folder and shipped
in small boxes, enough being put into each
box to prevent them from slipping about.
! IN TINS 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 i'm
| possible to work on them. they are put
| INTO box with lot of wet paper, and the
| dampness from this soon saturates them
ana makes them soft again. and easily
| SNAPPED. The next part of the work is in
| repairing what damage they have sustain
| eu, Tor, OF course, in spite of the care of
shipping, they are not as perfect as before
they were caught, and there is a great
deai OF delicate work on them before they
are ready for exhibition or sale
1t may be that the delicate fur has been
brushed from their wings in places. show
| ing, when held to the light small trans
parent spots, perhaps the size Of a pin
head, perhaps little larger or smaller
10 conceal these. the underside of the
wing, or the side that is not to be shown.
IS brushed with a black Varnish which
forms coating that entirely conceals the
DEFECT. If there is some serious defect.
ike the loss of an antenna, or a piece chip
ped from the edge of the wing the work
Is more difficult There are in every
shipment numbers of butterflies so dam
aged as to be not worth the repairing, and
these are saved and used for patching UP
the others. Supposing a piece to be gone
from the edge of the wing the pile of dis
cafded ones is hunted through until anoth-
er wing is found of exactly the same text
ure and color, and a small piece of this Is
placed on the under side of the damaged
one and fastened with a thin varnish the
edge then being trimmed into shape with
fine pair of scissors. In this way the
butterflies are worked over until each one
IS as perfect as the day he escaped from
his cocoon
After this comes the still more interest
ing work of mounting, which is done by
the Dentons in an original and especially
beautiful manner. A hollow block of
plaster of Paris is cast with a slight de-
preston in the middle. This receives the
body of the insect, and the wings are
spread out over the block and fastened in
place by resting on a thin coating of white
Varnish, which holds them out perfectly
smooth and fiat. A sheet of glass lust
the size of the block is then laid on the in
sect, holding it still more firmly and is
fastened in place by strips of heavy paper
bound about the glass and plaster Just as
paper block is bound, and also holding
pasteboard cover for the bottom of the
block The insect may be freely handled
and examined without danger of injury to
its delicate wings by an accidental blow,
keeps it from fading, and preserves the
delicate luster THAI is it's chiefest charm
as perfectly as when it was alive. The
pure white of the plaster, too gives the
most perfect background imaginable for
the brilliant colorings of most of the spec
linens.
Mounted in this way a drawer full of
butterflies is more beautiful than a col
lection of precious gems, for, although
many OF our native BUTTERFLIES are exceed
ingly beautiful, they are not to be compar-
ed with the average of those from China
India and South America. In these dead
heavy black alternates with brilliant Grim
son, 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 traceres and pat
terms. The texture of the wings is also
infinitely more beautiful than anything we
have here, some of them having heavy
rich gloss that exceeds that on the finest
fabric that human skill can produce, while
others have the deep, changing luster of
gems or liquids.
Some of the most beautiful are of the
species morpho, which is an inhabitant of
South America. The distinctive coloring
of this species is q beautiful metallic blue,
ranging from very dark to almost a pale
green. The wings are usually nearly all
of this color, although sometimes they
have hard iridescent sheen, which
changes shade like a pigeons neck when
it is turned to different angles of light.
This characteristic is seen to it's perfection
in the opal butterfly, which is one of this
species The wing of this moth is just
tilG COloi VI q alit opal, anu DIS IL Is TURN
In the light it gives the impression of hav-
ing a good deal of thickness, with the
changing luster and deep glowing spot Of
a true fire opal.
Another beautiful one is the Ornithopte-
| ra Croesus. which is also one of the rar-
est butterflies in the world. 1t is an in
habitant of India, and even there is rarely
| seen and difficult to secure. II is of deep
dead black. with broad splotches on the
wings, which are exactly the color of new,
| untarnished gold, its name being given 1t
for this characteristic.
Perhaps the most interesting thing in
| looking over the Dentohs collection is to
| have them explain the wonderful ways in
| which they are protected from their nat
| ural enemies, the birds. Perhaps the most
! remarkable instance of the way in which
| this is done is the leaf butterfly, a native
| of India. The upper side of this insects
| wings have the characteristically brilliant
! coloring of its country, but the under side
| IS of duh brown, the significance of
| which is not seen until the insect alights
| and closes its wings. When il is in this
position it has exactly the appearance in
| shape and color of a dead leaf, and this