But although I have not the collector's zeal I have an attentive eye to all that flies or crawls in the fields.

A butterfly so remarkable for its size and colouring would never have escaped my notice had I encountered it.
The little searcher whom I had enticed by a promise of rides upon wooden horses never made a second find.

For three years I requisitioned friends and neighbours, and especially their children, sharp-sighted snappers-up of trifles; I myself hunted often under heaps of withered leaves; I inspected stone-heaps and visited hollow tree-trunks.

Useless pains; the precious cocoon was not to be found.

It is enough to say that the Banded Monk is extremely rare in my neighbourhood.