THE 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY. 



[NEW SERIES.] 



MAY 1831. 



XLIX. On the Impediments to the Study of Natural History : 

 illustrated by a Reference to certain technical and incidental 

 Obscurities, in the Arrangement of the diurnal Family of 

 Lepidopterous Insects, by various celebrated Naturalists. By 

 A CORRESPONDENT. 



r lPHE experienced naturalist will probably look upon the 

 * following observations as an unjustifiable intrusion on the 

 columns of a purely scientific journal. But when it is consi- 

 dered that even Natural History itself, in its more extended 

 sense, is viewed by the generality of the world, rather as a re- 

 laxation from severer pursuits, than as a serious study requir- 

 ing all the acumen of an energetic mind, some allowance will, 

 it is hoped, be made for a few suggestions, having for their 

 object the promotion of a delightful branch of science, which, 

 to use the words of an intelligent writer, runs great risk 

 " under the present unaccountable thirst for innovation, dis- 

 played by revolutionary zoologists" of replunging " systematic 

 zoology into its former state of barbarism," and thus effec- 

 tually excluding all but the most experienced of the superior 

 class of an initiated few. 



It is from no wish to disparage the valuable labours of 

 authors who have devoted their whole time and attention to 

 the perfection of science, that I venture upon the tender 

 ground of commenting on the almost insurmountable obstacles 

 thrown in the pathway of him who, devoting the few leisure 

 hours he is able to deduct from the more imperative claims 

 of life, would familiarize himself with a study from which 

 he must, under existing circumstances, be in great measure 

 absolutely debarred. I am fully aware of the necessity of 

 nomenclatures arid preliminary steps in the ladder to learning; 



N.S. Vol. 9. No. 53. May 1831. 2 T but 



