414 Bibliographical Notices. 



*' It was not from choice but necessity that the work was not pub- 

 lished in Systematic order," as it would have been impossible " to 

 command the requisite materials, so that the work should appear 

 with strict regularity ;" Mr. Curtis, however, observes, that 



" one great advantage undoubtedly attended the miscellaneous plan 

 adopted, namely, that a variety of orders was monthly presented to the 

 public, which led to their immediate attention, and thus families became 

 the favourites of entomologists, which frequently had been up to that pe- 

 riod totally neglected." 



The work, however, being now completed, the requisites for a 

 Systematical arrangement have been carefully supplied in the con- 

 cluding Number, with which are given general systematical and 

 alphabetical indexes both of the insects and plants ; and eight sepa- 

 rate indexes, of the same kind, together with as many new Title- 

 pages, in order that the work may be bound in eight instead of six- 

 teen volumes. It is unnecessary for us to remark how much the 

 utility and interest of the work will be increased when thus arranged. 



Mr. Curtis makes the following remarks upon the progress and 

 execution of his labours : — 



" Notwithstanding all difficulties, and they have neither been few nor 

 trifling, I have devoted myself most assiduously to my task during its pro- 

 gress, that no delay might take place in the accomplishment of an object 

 which I considered would be for the benefit of science ; and for sixteen 

 years my cabinets and library have been open to my friends and scientific 

 men one day in each week, in the hope that my favourite pursuit would be 

 thereby advanced ; and if they have gained information or derived advan- 

 tage from this arrangement, I am well satisfied. This, however, caused so 

 great a diminution of my time, that it would have taken upwards of twenty 

 years to complete this work, without allowing any periods for relaxation, if 

 I had not called in the aid of artists to assist me in the engravings ; I wish 

 it, however, to be understood that the plates of several of the early volumes 

 were for the greater part, and those of the last and a considerable por- 

 tion of the fifteenth were entirely, my own engraving, and all the others 

 were corrected and finished by myself; the drawings also are the efforts of 

 my pencil, and the articles and descriptions are my own writing ; for any 

 errors, therefore, I alone am accountable. That my labours have been well 

 received by those who are impartial judges, I need only refer to the notices 

 of Latreille, Burmeister, and many of my own countrymen. 



Before taking leave of those who have been interested in my undertaking 

 for so many years, I would remark, that without the support of the influ- 

 ential and wealthy, no illustrated work with numerous highly-finished en- 

 gravings can, in this branch of natural history, leave any reward for the 

 labours of the author, which are of course greatly increased when he com- 

 bines the part of the artist with his more legitimate duty ; and if in the 



