Note 159 — CHAP. XII. INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS—A COPIOUS LIST OF MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS. BY THE EDITOR.

Desirous as every collector must be of obtaining these moths, it is certain there are many persons still existing, who would consider it as a great calamity were one of them to fly into, or even approach their habitation; and so far from affording the pretty fugitive an asylum, would experience the highest satisfaction at his speedy departure. The reason, if it be not a prostitution of the term, is, that as the plumage on the back of this moth exhibits somewhat of the resemblance of a death’s head, these intelligent prognosticators (naturalists they cannot be called) are fully convinced that this harmless insect must be the harbinger of mortality, and that its appearance infallibly portends speedy death to some one of the family! Indeed, to weak minds, especially if previously debilitated by sickness, such an idea, if permitted to prey upon their spirits, may be productive of fatal consequences, and thus stamp a credit on the prophetic abilities of those sagacious observers of the mysteries of nature. To medical men, who are daily witnesses of the wonderful influence which the mind possesses over the body in a diseased state, such events do not appear at all surprizing.