VI PREFACE. 



finished is possessed, like the imago of a butterfly, of any 

 superiority over its preceding parts. Thus much only can 

 be said for it that as an insect, of what sort soever, is sure 

 to become an object of increased interest to those who have 

 followed it through its progressive stages, so it is hoped that 

 the ensuing series, making up the entire of an entomological 

 year, may be read with increased relish by those who have 

 followed it through its progressive periods : this, because 

 with all that pertains to natural knowledge " I'appetit vient 

 en mangeant" 



To the same class of subjects belongs yet another merit, 

 noticeable here because most sensibly felt, both by those thai 

 write and those that read, when thev come to the conclusion 



w 



of a book devoted to any one of them. In a sustained work 

 of fiction, or even in one on an historic theme sedulously 

 explored and vivified con amore, a writer may often entertain, 

 in common with his readers, a feeling of regret at having 

 clone with the persons and scenes of his own creation, or such 

 as have become familiar in their recalment from the depths of 

 the past ; but it is never thus with the objects drawn from the 

 world of nature. AVitli these neither writer nor reader are 

 ever called upon to part. They may have done, the former 



