Several close ballotings already; adjourned for a
fortnight. Poor concerns, both of 'em. Wait till our turn comes.
--I suppose you are an entomologist?--I said with a note of
interrogation.
-Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on
the individual entitled to that name! A society may call itself an
Entomological Society, but the man who arrogates such a broad title as
that to himself, in the present state of science, is a pretender, sir, a
dilettante, an impostor! No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.
--May I venture to ask,--I said, a little awed by his statement and
manner,--what is your special province of study?
I am often spoken of as a Coleopterist,--he said,--but I have no right to
so comprehensive a name. The genus Scarabaeus is what I have chiefly
confined myself to, and ought to have studied exclusively. The beetles
proper are quite enough for the labor of one man's life. Call me a
Scarabaeist if you will; if I can prove myself worthy of that name, my
highest ambition will be more than satisfied.
I think, by way of compromise and convenience, I shall call him the
Scarabee. He has come to look wonderfully like those creatures,--the
beetles, I mean,---by being so much among them.
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