four o'clock in the morning
Apart as we were , we had now a dozen interests in common -- threads of those intellectual ties over which the changes and chances of this mortal life have so little power . My sympathy was real , as well as ready , when the Major discovered a new insect , almost invisible by the naked eye , which thenceforward bore the terrible specific name of _ Bulleriana _ , suggesting a creature certainly not less than a rhinoceros , and surrounding the Major 's name with something of the halo of immortality . He was equally glad to hear of Jack 's beetles and of my fresh-water shells . I had taken to the latter as being `` the only things not yet collected by somebody or other in the house ; '' and I became so infatuated in the pursuit that I used to get up at four o'clock in the morning to search the damp places and water-herbage by the river , it being emphatically `` the early bird who catches '' snails . After his great discovery , the Major constantly asked if I had found a specimen of _ Helix Vandaleuriana _ yet . It was a joke between us -- that new shell that I was to discover ! I have an old letter open by me now , in which , writing of the Arkwrights , he says , `` Your dear father 's daughter could have no better home . ''