Throughout the 19th and most of the 20th
centuries, butterfly collectors in the United Kingdom descended each
spring upon fens, forests, and grasslands where prized insects thrived.
Some of the net-wielders sought adventure; others hoped to add to
scientific understanding; still others were motivated by mania or money.
They hunted butterflies that bore evocative names, like the Adonis
Blue, whose males are a striking sapphire, and the Duke of Burgundy,
whose orange-and-black wings have a metallic sheen. [
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