hitherto corfounded under the Name of Mantn, 3 



would have been as claffical as that for which we are indebted to 

 him on the Rhynchoia. He would thus have thrown light on all 

 the Hemiptcra of Linne, and have done as much as a fyflematic writer 

 for this order of infe6ls, as Palias has for the unguiculatcd quadrupeds 

 among the mamjnalia. No one will deny, unlefs from an abfurd 

 prejudice he defpife every thing that is Dutch without further ex- 

 amination, that the late Stoll was a very diligent and fortunate ob- 

 ferver. His penetrating eye, incredibly experienced and ready in 

 diftinguifliing objedsat firft fight, comprehended the whole habit fo 

 happily in one fixed point of view, that he difcriminatcd the natural 

 genera as if by internal feeling. The colledion of Holthuyfen, which 

 he had chiefly arranged, was divided almoH: univcrfally into the fame 

 genera which Fabricius has adopted in his Entotiwloi^la SjJIetnatlca, 

 Stoll died before this work was publiflied, and Fabricius faw that 

 collection only curforily in Hamburgh, when hi6 book was all com- 

 pleted but the appendix. This agreement, therefore, between two 

 pcrfons thinking quite independently of each other, fhows clearly 

 that entomology is not fo uncertain and inconftant as many be- 

 lieve ; and that both of thefe gentlemen were in fearch of truth, and 

 knew how to find it. Syftematical order, indeed, is not to be ex- 

 pected in the writings of Stoll ; for, as he had no learned education, 

 he was totally unprovided with that artificial logic which is more 

 ufeful to men of letters in general than they often think proper to 

 allow. Although the idea of this monograph v/as borrowed from 

 Stoll, yet one acquainted with the fubjecl will foon difcover that 1 

 have not copied from him, but that I have bedovved much labour of 

 my ow^n on this diilertatlon. 



I fhall, in the firft place, fliow that the Speclrc of Stoll, or the 

 Phafma, is truly different from the Mantis^ and mufl: be feparated from 

 it as a diftinct genus; in the next place, treat of both in general, going 

 fyftematically through their fpecies, and afcertaiuiiig the fyuonyms; 



B 2 V. then 



