entomological census.

"In the morning we were conducted before the Justice, but as there were
about forty cases to be heard before mine, I had ample leisure to look
about, and take a realizing sense of the beauties of my situation. The
case of myself and others was at length reached. The officers swore to
the muss, as if the numerous broken heads were not sufficient evidence
that there had been a difference of opinion. One of the Irishmen became
a volunteer liar in his own behalf, but the Justice recognized him as an
old customer, often brought up for drunkenness, and knowing him to be a
reliable liar, he placed his evidence all to my credit, and discharged
me without even a fine, but with the assurance that if I came there
again he would 'send me up.' Not wanting to make any such equivocal
ascension as a matter of experiment, I have kept away from him, and cut
up all my subsequent monkey-shines in another ward, which is out of his
jurisdiction."

After Mr. Dropper closed, there was a brief silence, in which each
member quietly smoked his pipe, apparently reflecting upon the morals of
lotteries. At last Wagstaff inquired who won the farm.

"I forgot that," resumed Dropper. "I learned from an advertisement which
appeared in the daily journals, that ticket number 6281 drew the farm.
This number, you will observe, corresponds with the one I supposed would
be the lucky one, except that in mine a nought was annexed to the four
figures, making it 62810, instead of 6281. My mistake grew out of a
misinterpretation of my dream, in respect to the bob-tailed cat, I
having assumed that the diminutive nether extremity, in this instance,
was equivalent to a nought expressed, whereas, if I had let it remain a
nought understood, and had acted accordingly, I should have been the
lucky man."

"Not so lucky as you imagine," remarked Quackenbush, "for the facts of
that matter I am somewhat familiar with. A country fiddler, living up in
Connecticut, held the ticket which entitled the holder to the real
estate aforesaid. He saw the advertisement, and I being the only
acquaintance he had in the city, he wrote to me to secure the deeds, as
he couldn't raise the money to come down. I called at the office of the
managers of the enterprise, and presented the ticket. They said it was
all right; congratulated me on the luck of my friend, and told me to
call a week from that time, and they would be prepared to execute the
deed. This I thought w