Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-14

the TlSlIS sun mas uilet
the dew, seeking new beauties and
new mysteries i'm one of the most
fascinating pursuits open to the
collector.
Rock Creek Park and the woods
about Cabin John are the favorite
haunts Of these peaceful hunters who
frequently receive thrills of the chase
equivalent to those which come to
big game killers in equatorial forests
The netting of a rare or exceptionally
beautiful specimen does not occur
often. but it is a possibility ever be
fore the butterfly collector. Even an
entirely unrccorded species may be
Ragged. despite the long period during
which the country surrounding Wash
ington has been searched thoroughly
by some of the worlds foremost eX-
perts on butterflies and moths.
Most of the local butterfly collectors
are Smithsonian Institution or De
partment of Agriculture officials and
employees who have a professional as
well as amateur interest in the flying
flowers" which hover above opening
blossoms Some exceptionally fine
private butterfly collections have been
gathered in Washington, to say moth
ing of the scores of specimens added
TO the great National Museum lepidop.
terra collection, which covers the whole
world.
Some of the collectors are concerned
essentially with the purely scientific
side of the work. Others seek snowy
or freakish specimens. But not a
few of them combine the science and
the poetry of the hunt, experts on the
finer points of color variation and
structure but none the less concerned
with the human side of butterfly
life. They spy on the home life Of the
insects, pick out the inebriates and
church members among them. and
interpret their existence in terms in
telligible to the layman.
Few have done more to interpret
the butterfly to man than DIR. Austin
Fl. Clark, National Museum curator,
who combines lifelong enthusia SIN
for the scientific study of these insects
with a no less intense earnestness of
purpose in opening the doors of sci
ence to the great mass of citizens who
are repealed by technical terms and
language. He is one of the most per.
sistent of local collectors and for the
past Is years has roamed through
nearby fields and woods on the look.
out for insects with interesting char
acteristics.
DIR. Clark has discovered some curl
Gus and valuable specimens and has
turned over his most valuable finds to
the National Museum for the benefit
of the whole world of science. He
has hunted butterflies all over the
world as a side line to his work on
various scientific expeditions, but he
still finds the ever-present possibility
OF a thrill among the commoner
varieties OF the eastern United States.
X X 4
ITO DIR. Clark, familiar from boyhood
with every scientific term used in
the description of lepidoptera, the but
ter1y remains something far more
than Latin name on the outside of
a museum case, and vet something
more definite and distinct than the
poetical conception of the insect ris-
ing from its chrysalis as symbolic of
the resurrection of the human soul
from the shrouded body.
One butterfly is fop. Another is
a drunkard. Another still is a bully
and a killer. Tho whole range of
character can be covered in the eX-
tremely abundant butterfly kingdom
This butterfly primps and powders
like the most effeminate dandy be-
fore calling on his lady love. His
close relative is sulky hermit found
only in the recesSeS of treetops. Some
feed daintily on fragrant blossoms and
SIP sweet Wlle from ueWH petal cups,
while others eat only meat. fight to
kill at the f1utter of a wing, smell
like a horse stable and drink hard
liquor. There is a code of law in the
lepidopteran world, but the insects
have not adopted the eighteenth
amendment to the Federal Constitu.
ton and are at liberty to take their
rum or leave it alone.
Within the past year Dr. Clark has
found and described scientifically one
, new subspecies and one new variety
in the neighborhood Of Washington,
and ne has located here from time to
time very rare types. His latest sci.
entific study has been devoted to the
subject of butterfly fragrance and in
the last report of the Smithsonian In
stitution he published lengthy treat
Use on the meat-eating habits of other
varieties. 1t is a little known fact
that butterflies carry their analogy to
flowers not only to the petal-like ap-
pearance Of their wings, but to dis
tinct, flowerlike fragrance of the
body.
Every fact in science, says DR..
Clark, is related in some way to every
other fact. From the simple fact of
the existence of an odd butterfly type
can be reared a structure which even
tually involves such seemingly distant
subjects as meteorology, oceanog.
raphy, chemistry, physics and astron-
omy. The butterfly, in DIR. Clark s
conception, is like a gate to the great
temple of science. This insect at
tracts human interest by its beauty
and leads young men and women who
become enthusiastic in their youth
ever deeper in scientific research
The amateur as well as the scientist
finds in Or. Clark'S work guide for
his morning collecting expeditions.
The odor of butterflies sometimes is
too delicate and elusive to be detected
by adults. The adult nose. says DIR.
Clark, is an uncertain organ. especial
~ in men, and the testing of a butter
fly often results only in fit of sneez.
ing caused by the irritation of the
loosened scales. The sense of smell in
children is much keener. This situa-
ton has been met. so far as the scent
ed butterflies around Washington are
concerned, by the observations of DIR.
Ciark's two sons, Austin b. j. Clark
and Hugh L. Clark, who are follow
ing the footsteps of their father as
enthusiastic naturalists, with sharp
eyes for those minute. variations of
form and color in nature which con.
tribute so much toward a sympa
thetic understanding Of the woods and
fields.
''On our various excursions in the
field DIR. Clark said, ut fell to them
first to investigate the butterflies we
caught In most cases / could myself
confirm their observations, but in
some / was quite unable to detect an
odor, which they assured me was
quite strong"
THE fiower-like odors of male butter
flies usually have their origin in
hairs or scales of a peculiar type
called androconia, grouped in patches
on the wings. distributed along the
veins or scattered widely on their