Animals: Butterfly Man

The U. S. Department of Agriculture bought itself a bargain last week. It acquired a collection of 1,000,000 butterflies and moths—valued at $1 per specimen—belonging to the late Dr. William Barnes of Decatur, Ill. for $50,000, or a nickel per insect. Usefulness of the collection, to be housed in the National Museum, Washington: with the new specimens on hand the Government can more readily identify insect pests.

Dr. Barnes started the work 50 years ago by chasing butterflies in the Rockies on his vacations. Soon his hobby became famed. Friends, collectors, strangers sent him specimens. At an auction sale in a French town, he bought the collection of Dr. Oberthur, French scientist, discovered in it insects brought to Europe in 1829 by English explorers looking for a northwest passage to India. Three other of his valuable butterflies, now extinct, came from the swamp which was drained to build San Francisco. He paid $10,000 per year to collectors who went to Baffin Bay, Labrador, the tropics to find specimens for him. Some of the rarest are worth $20,000 a piece. Most of these are drab, colorless. The brilliant butterflies are common.