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PART II. 



REVIEWS. 



:lVl 



Art. I. Illustrations of British Entomology ; or, a Synopsis of 

 Indigenous Insects^ containing their Generic and Specific Dis- 

 tinctions ; with an Account of their Metamorphoses ^ Time^ of 

 Appearance^ Localities, Food, and. Economy , as for as practicable. 

 By James Francis Stephens, F.L.S., Member of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society, &c. Embellished with coloured Figures of the 

 rarer and more interesting Species. 8vo. Vol. I. Mandibidata, 

 pp. 186. Vol. 11. Haustellata, pp. 150. London, Baldwin and 

 Cradock, 1828. 



With the exception of botany, perhaps, there is no branch 

 of natural history so fascinating as the study of insects, par- 

 ticularly to the young; that is, if the bias of opening curiosity 

 be properly directed. It is the common every-day practice in 

 most families, to teach children, from the earliest infancy, to 

 treat the greater number of insects as if they were serpents, 

 venomous and dangerous, and of course meriting to be de- 

 stroyed, or at least avoided with horror, wherever they are 

 met with. Associations are by this means linked with the very 

 appearance of insects, which become gradually more inveterate 

 with advancing years, provided, as most frequently happens, 

 the same system be persisted in of avoiding or destroying 

 almost every insect which is unlucky enough to attract observ- 

 ation. How much rational amusement and innocent pleasure 

 are thus thoughtlessly lost, and how many disagreeable feel- 

 ings created in the most absurd and foolish manner, we shall 

 be fully able, we hope, to show as we proceed. 



To prove that the study, or (if the word be disliked) the 

 observation, of insects is peculiarly fascinating to children, even 

 in their years of infancy, we may refer to what we have seen 

 in the family of a friend, who is partial to this, as well as to 

 all the departments of natural history. Our friend's children, 

 a boy and a girl, were taught from the moment they could 

 distinguish insects, to treat them as objects of interest and 

 curiosity, and not to be afraid even of those which wore the 

 most repulsive appearance. The little girl, for example, when 

 just beginning to walk alone, encountered one day a large 



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