PREFACE. IX 



mingled in its contents are ingredients foreign and discordant : 

 in other words, that the descriptive may be deemed too 

 highly coloured by the imaginative. So, at first sight, it is 

 not unlikely to appear, to those especially who possess no 

 previous acquaintance with the subject; but as this is 

 partially unfolded, it may perhaps become apparent that 

 allegoric fable, poetic association, and moral analogy, are no 

 forced productions, bat only the luxuriant growths (leaf, flower, 

 and fruit) of that branch of the tree of knowledge which 

 belongs to Insect history. 



It may also be noticed that in the still prevalent, though 

 daily lessening, indifference or distaste to members of the 

 Insect race, there exists an obstacle to their general study 

 only to be overcome entirely by waging gentle warfare against 

 prejudice, where prejudice is always seated, in the feelings, 

 and not in the understanding. To make Insects objects 

 of liking would seem, therefore, the best preparatory step 

 towards making them subjects of learning ; and to accomplish 

 this, the writer has endeavoured to associate them as much 

 as possible with our domestic habits, the summer's stroll,- 

 the winter's walk, whilst exhibiting them in their numerous 

 relations with other departments of Nature, especially the 



