THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2968, 1 February 1911, Page 76

THE NATURALIST.

THE BUTTERFLY INDUSTRY. Within the past 50 years over a billion dollars' worth of butterflies have been caught by butterfly-hunters and sold to collectors. So extensive is the industry at the present time that it may be safely asserted that over 20 million dollars a year is spent on these beautiful insects. Naturally, it is not the common variety of butterfly that brings the big prices, and to capture the rarer specimens necessitates the expenditure of considerable money and consquently enhances the price of those secured. . It is a comparatively simple matter to po into the field of a summer's day and, with a regular butterfly net, capture as many as may be desired of the common order of butterflies, but these are worthless from the standpoint of the collector. The kind that he wants and for which he is ready to pay almost fabulous prices aire far more difficult to obtain. Elaborate expeditions to the tropics are being constantly planned with the sole object of catching valuable butterflies, and though the expense is considerable, the returns are more than sufficient to net a handsome profit on the undertaking. Some idea of the systematic manner in which the butterfly industry is conducted may be gathered! from the fact that in Costa Rica a railroad has been builtt for the sole purpose of conveying the butterflyhunters to the scene of operations. Regular hunting parties are organised for the purpose, and the expedition proceeds to the most promising locality with the idea of capturing hundreds of the rarest specimens of the many-hued beauties, every one of which may be relied upon to bring anywhere from 50dol to 500dol. Such collectors as the Hon. Walter Rothschild, a member of the famous British financial house of that name, are willing to pay any price within reason for an unusual specimen, and the natural history museums and other scientific institutions are always in the market for them. Perhaps the largest price so far paid for a single specimen was that paid by the Hon. Walter Rothschild for a Venezuelan moth. The enthusiastic collector gave up lOOOdol for it, and it is doubtful whether he would part with it to-day for many times that sum. The butterfly industry has its own market and constantly-varying quotations, its dealers ; n many parts of the world, and its travelling agents and explorers in every out-of-the-way corner of the globe. The principal market is in Condon, where butterfly auctions are held at frequent intervals—at least half a dozen of them every year. These sales are not attended' merely by casual persons interested in the study of insects. On the contrary, they draw crowds, in which are found very few scientific entomologists, a great majority of those present on such occasions being amateurs who na.ve the butterfly mania. In America,«strange to say, the butterfly fad has never taken hold. Now and then an individual will be found who possesses a small collection of butterflies, but even this is exceptional. In Europe, on the other hand, butterfly-collecting has long been a craze. Many rich men, including not a few among the nobility, have superb collections, and are willing to pay almost any price for a rare specimen. It should be understood that they are not interested in the matter from a scientific viewpoint at all. They collect butterflies just as other people collect postage stamps, and what they are always most eager to obtain is a "freak" of some kind. A common yellow specimen, worth perhaps a penny, might easily fetch 2'Cgs if its wings, through some accident of Nature, chanced to be adorned by a sky-blue border. Not lono- ago, at auction in London, a "swallow-tailed" • butterfly was actually sold for £l6O, or nearly 800doi , . With such prices obtainable, it is not surprising that dealers should find it worth while to send expert collectors all over the world in pursuit of butterflies. Any unexplored region offers a specially attractive invitation, inasmuch as it is likely to yield species that are new, and therefore eagerly sought by the wealthy amateurs. There are not a few missionaries, located in distant corners of the world, who eke out their incomes by catching butterflies — the method they adopt being usually to employ the services of natives for the purpose. There is no danger too great, no expense too large, to be undertaken in the search for these gaudy-winged insects, inasmuch as rare varieties are always in de>mand at fancy prices, while an.vthm.sr really new may be worth literally hundreds ot thousands of times its weight in gold. It happens every now and then that a species formerly common becomes rare. In England, especially, where there are very few butterflies, the native ones have been pursued almost to extermination. Under such circumstances the price naturally goes up On the other hand, a species hitherto rare mav suddenly become comparatively common through discovery of its tribe in multitudes in some part of the world. Then the price falls, in response to the law ot supply and demand. Thus it is that quotations on the butterfly, exchange in London are constanUv fluctuating. _ In every la.-io-e European city there are dealers in insects who usually specialise more or less in butterflies for the reason that these are in greatest demand—beetles', by the way. coming next. These dealers publish regular monthly catalogues of the rare and desirable specimens they have on hand, so that amateurs anywhere are enabled to order whatever they want,; or even to procure a fairlv good collection, at an expense of anywhere from, a few hundreds to a few thousands of dollars. It is in Great Britain that the butterfly fad has attained' its most extravagant development. There are rich Englishmen who -value their collections of these insects at hundreds of thousands of dollars, and who, as every dealer in the business knows, are willing at any time to pay almost any price for a specimen of a kind they do not possess. The care of such collections is in itself a matter of no little difficulty and expense, inasmuch as, unless utmost pains are taken for their preservation, the 'butterflies are easily injured or destroyed. Many insects attack them. The principal butterfly dealers have their correspondents everywhere, not only in Europe, but all over the globe % and thus

the discovery of a new species, or of fresh supplies of a rarity, is quickly made known to the entire trade. Within the last few years fraud of a very curious kind, by the way, has made its way into the business, through the invention of a method of counterfeiting butterflies. By some ingenious process, as yet a secret, specimens of common varieties are altered' by pointing—the work being done so skilfully as to be very difficult to detect. By this means many spurious butterflies, apparently representing hitherto undiscovered species, have been put upon the market at fancy prices, and disposed of with great profit to the "forgers. Much cleverness has bsen used in devising methods of rendering collections of butterflies attractive to the eye. Some of the wealthy European collectors devote_ whole rooms "to the purpose, the walls being entirely covered with the insects (under proteetioru of glass), arranged usually not according to species., but with relation to their colours, for decorative effect. Particularly fine specimens ax© often mounted singly in little frames, with a background of plaster of parts hollowed' out in such a way that the insect is gracefully posed, wh'ile handsomely displayed against the pure white of the surface behind' it. In hunting butterflies two methods are usually employed. One is to go out in the open arid catch with the net such rash individuals as may happen along, and the other is to lay snares for them. "There is nothing a butterfly loves so much as a bad smell." So says Dr William Schaus, perhaps the greatest of living collectors, to whom the Smithsonian Institution chiefly owes its magnificent stock of butterflies. During a recent trip through the wilds of Central America the doctor frequently had resort to the expedient of using decayed fruits and' other bad-smelling things, for the purpose of luring species which habitually flutter about lofty tree-tops, almost never coming near to the ground. One effective method he adopted! was to smear a quantity of banana pulp on the trunk of a tree, and leave it for a few days, at the end of which it was in condition to serve as butterfly bait. In fact, the most desirable butterflies were likely to be found perched on the messy stuff, so as to be easily scooped in with a hand net. „ On other occasions it proved convenient to suspend a bunch of bananas from a tree branch on the edge of an opening in the forest, or else to leave a quantity of the fruit to rot on the ground. The smell seemed to have an irresistible attraction for the beautiful insects. But anything else that had what' we should call a very objectionable odour —decayed fish, for exa.mple— was found to be good bait for butterflies. If the fresh skin of an animal killed for food' was hunig up to dry, the gaudy creatures were likely to be discovered in numbers, a few hours later, sucking at the moist, fatty lining of the pelt. Though so fond of odours, butterflies, it would appear, have a marked preference for those that are offensive. Dr Schaus says that he often came across orange trees in full bloom, giving out a very sweet and almost overpowering perfume, but never did he see a butterfly on or near one of the fragrant blossoms. What those insects want is something rotten. Down in Central America,, where many butterfly-hunting expeditions are conducted, the savages resort to a unique method of capturing their beautiful prey. Armed with delicate blow-guns, they lay in wait foir the butterflies, and when, the insects come within range they discharge pitnbadls or minute arrows at them with such deadly accuracy that the insects aimed at invariably fall to the ground, stunned. It may be that some butterflies are attracted by some agreeable smells. The smoke of a cigar, on a warm, still day, is said to act as a lure. But other means are adopted for drawing them. A weakness of theirs, particularly of certain species, is curiosity, so that they will sometimes fly low, and even approach the hunter, it he stands perfectly still for a while, to investigate him. Another famous collector, Professor Hahnel, successfully used captured butterflies as decovs for others of their species, killing them with the cyanide bottle, and then fastening them in conspicuous places on bushes or tree-branches. In many instances the living ones would flutter down to join their dead comrades, and. thus come within reach of the long-handled net. Tne same butterfly-hunter it was who, along the tributaries of the Upper Amazon, obtained many of the rare and exquisite Morphea—a group of lustrous roetahic-hued species—by employing the natives to erect ia tall platform, on top of which he lay in wait for victims. Butterflies are among the most cosmopolitan of insects, being found in all parts of the globe—even within the Arctic Circle, and at lofty altitudes in the Himalayas and the Andes, the very roof-tops of the worlo. High up in the mountains of Chili occurs the° Satyrus argenteus, whose wings look as if they were cut from thin sheets of bright silver. Another species, native to the same Paction, has wings of pure gold. But, generally speaking, the largest and most brilliantly-coloured butterflies live m warm countries. The most striking difference between. butterflies and moths, in respect to habits, lies in the fact that the latter are. nightflyers, whereas the former go abroad in the daytime. Hence it is that a collector of moths commonly uses an 'acetylene or other light to attract his prey—Dr Schaus on one occasion employed for the purpose a locomotive headlight—whereas the butter-fly-hunter adopts methods altogether different. . , , The butterflly-hunter looks not only tor the winged insects, but also for their caterpillars and cocoons. When he finds the caterpillar of a rare species he is glaa enough to take the trouble to- feed it tor a while, if there be opportunity, on its proper food plant, until it has undergone its transformations and becomes a. butterfly. Of course, a butterfly reared in this way has the great advantage of be in S perfect and! unmarred. To the collector ib has a special value, just as a "proo'i "coin, which has never been in circulation, ia much more highly prized by a numismatist. ... To obtain a desired butterfly caterpillar, unless it shall be found by mere lucky chance, the collector must be acquainted with the chosen food plant of the species. Then he knows where to look for the larva. The principal trouble about this method is that the caterpillar may be diseased. Some parasitic insect may nave laid eggs in its body, which will hatch out and destroy it later on, before it has a chance to become a butterfly. Accordingly, the hunter, when practicable, prefers t» raise the caterDillars from the eggs.