Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-05-04
BUTTERFLY HUNTING.
Hundreds of People in New York
Fond OF Hunting Winged
Insects.

The butterfly hunters have already
made their appearance in Central park,
says the New York Journal. 1t will not
! be long before scores of them may be
seen there daily, armed with long
1 handled nets, chasing their bright-colored
prey Just now they are spying about in
| search of likely places to find the first
Corners.
There are between 300 and 400 devoted
! followers of the unobtrusive hobby of col
/ Letting butterflies in this city. All these
! are serious collectors who enter into the
! pursuit i'll Il genuinely scientific spirit.
| There are merchants and lawyers among
| the number, literary men, artists and ac-
/ tors. The most Jealous collectors are
| women.
! The rarer months and butterflies have
| distinct and often considerable money
values. Even the little yellow cabbage
! butterfly. which flutterS IN small clouds
over every roadside puddle from May TO
October. is quoted at 2 cents. There is
, an exquisite butterfly of Madagascar,
whose dusky wings are striped with blue
and green and gold, which is worth from
| 81 to SIS.
$1Ob for Some Flies.
1t is seldom that any variety is digni-
| fed with price i'll excess of $50, yet
| there are some so rare and so hard to
capture and preserve that they readily
sell for 500 each, and even more. The
| enormous and gaudy butterflies OF inter
! ior China bring figures near the top, and
the great and gloriOuSly-colored butter
| flies with long Latin names, which can
only be captured on warm, bright days
| near the snowy SUBMITS of the Andes
mountains, cost from 500 TO S12o each.
| Some seasons large importations of rare
| butterflies are made and prices fall to
| tritles. At the same time there may arise
an uncommon demand for comparative
| ly cheap insect. and it rises at once to
| the top of the market.
In the collection in the Museum of
| Natural History in Central park there
are many costly specimens. Une may not
| find these rare flies, however, spread in
the cases in the galleries open to the
public. The glorious coiorS of the feath-
| cry wings soon fade ON exposure to light.
They are guarded under lock in darkened
cabinets. but any visitor may see them
| hy applying to the cntomologlst.
Markets for the Insects.
There are no regular places where
moths and butterflies are bought and sold
in this country. In Europe, where col
lccting has been for many years Il ia
! vorite hobby of the lcsurCly. there are
regular establishments which deal not
| only in the flies themselves, but in the
eggs, larvae ana ChrysalideS. The deaf
| ers in Paris have agents III all parts of
| the world. Paris is just as much the
i center or the W0rIu IfdUR III Insects as
| Hamburg is of the trade in wild animals.
Here. however, there are many collect
ors. who are dealers only in restricted
| sense Of the word. When they have
| more duplicates of choice specimens on
| hand than they want themselves they
find means of letting the fact be known
to other collectors who may want to buy
or exchange. There are journals devoted
to entomology which circulate among col
lectors, and advertisements inserted in
| them are sure of a response.
Moths and butterflies of a very large
variety fairly swarm in Central park,
and the collector need 90 nowhere else
for years if he has the patience to con-
fine his rambles in the parks limits.
The park is not rich in fy-by-night moths
as it was before the electric lights came.
Their brilliancy attracted the moths,
| which dashed against the glass globes
and We're killed by thousands.
Butterflies Poisoned.
When a butterfly is captured it is held
firmly by the wings over a bottle of eva
hide of potassium, the poisonous fumes
of which quickly put an end to It's flut-
tering 1t is then pinned to the cork bot
tom of the case at hand. At home the
butterfly is removed and pinned to anoth-
or cork. while its wings are stretched out
fiat and fastened to blocks of wood until
they have dried and Stiffened in the
proper position. 1t is then ready to 90
into the case. Collectors want pairs of
|