ABSTRACT
Mikhail Bulgakov had a highly developed sense of an elder brother’s responsibilities. He was not yet sixteen when his father died, but he felt keenly his role as eldest of seven children, responsible for them and for his mother. His brothers for their part adored Mikhail, helping him in his scientific hobbies: collecting butterflies, beetles and grass snakes for his collections. Their sister Nadezhda would recall occasions when a grass snake caught for Mikhail would escape and cause domestic commotion; one such was found curled up under a cushion in their mother’s bedroom. Mikhail’s butterfly collection was a very good one, containing many rare specimens, such as satyrids. A letter of June 1912 from Vanya to Mikhail is entirely devoted to the subject of butterfly-collecting and the subject is mentioned in other letters written by the twelve-year old that summer. Kolya, on holiday with his uncle in the Caucasus in the same year, likewise refers to the collection, promising to bring any rare butterflies that he finds.
