

fcarccly any thing to be dclircd; but where arc the metarawphofes 

 through which thefc finUhed forms have piled? and where arc their 

 various habitations, foods, and manners? Some EuroiKcan mollis 

 and butterflies alone are exhibited through all their changes, and with 

 fome of their varieties, by Harris, Wilkes. BTpCT, Em ft. the admirable 

 Rocfd, and the inimitable Scp]>; but who lince the celebrated, though 

 not very accurate, Merian, lias laborioufly fcrulinized thole of the 

 mote regions of India or Amcricar 



re- 





Tin: materials of the following work have been collected on the 

 Ijxrt bv a faithful obfervcr, Mr. John Abbot, many years resident in 

 Georgia* who, after having prcvioufly fludicd the metamorpliofcs of 

 Kngiilh infects, purfucd his enquiries among thofe of Georgia and 

 the neighbouring jKirts of North America. The rcfult of his obferva- 

 tions be has delineated in a ftyle of beauty and accuracy which can 

 fcarccly be excelled, ami has accompanied his figures with an account, 

 as well as a reprcfcntauon, of the plants on which each infcA chiefly 

 feeds* together with many circumrtancea of its manners, times of the 

 different meiamoq>hofcs, and other intercfiing particulars, For all 

 tinh fails recorded in thele pages the ]wblic are entirely obliged to 

 Mr. Abbot His memorandums, not methodized by himfelf for pub- 

 lication, have merely liecn digefted into feme fort of ftyle and order 

 by the editor, who lias generally added remarks of his own, in a 

 feparate paragraph and different type from the reft; and who has en- 

 tirely lo anfwer for the fyftcmatic names and definitions; that depart- 

 ment having been left altogether unattempted by Mr. Abbot. 





The execution of this part of the work has not been without its 

 difficulties* The fpecies of Irfit/oftUra, as difplaycd in the laft edi- 

 tion of Fabricius, an: fo immenfely numerous, tlwt it requires no flhiall 

 Itudy and obfervatiou to acquire a competent knowledge of them, lo 

 as to be certain whether any (^articular infect that may come Ixrforc 

 us be among them or not. This difficulty has been overcome in a 



