The three reasons for having a virtual collection mentioned in the article are:
1. Accessibility: You can access them from anywhere, regardless of your location (e.g., Museum of the World).
2. Preservation/Ethical Concerns: For things like butterflies, it's more environmentally friendly and ethical not to collect physical specimens but to document them virtually.
3. Novelty/Technology: New technologies enable new forms of collecting, like digital assets such as CryptoKitties.