NOTES ON THE BUTTERFLIES


one or two hours continuous exposure to its direct
rays, and after it had gained heat and strength,
I became a very different person, weak and
languid and incapable of taking the slightest
interest in anything except to get as quickly as
possible out of the sun and into the shade. This
was not always an easy thing to do for, as a rule,
the country is cleared of bush and trees for several
miles around the towns. I attribute this curious
effect not so much to the sun's heat rays, but more
to its chemical rays. I never suffered in this way
except after direct exposure to the sun.
 Whether this was a special peculiarity or idiosyn-
crasy so far as I alone was concerned I do not
know, nor have I been able to ascertain.
 In any expeditions for collecting I would advise
very light and thin material for clothing, stout
boots and leggings, a machete-that is a long
knife like a sword which hangs in a scabbard at
your side-to hack away bushes and creeping
vines, a shot bag-that is a canvas bag or wallet
which is slung over your shoulder by means of a
strap-with two compartments, one of which
holds your empty papers and the other for your
captures, a net, a small lancet and some perman-
ganate of potash crystals in case you should be
so unlucky as to suffer snake bite, and a compass
for use should you find yourself lost in the bush.
 That is quite sufficient for daily expeditions,
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