OF WASHINGTON. 99 



the author. " This work went through several editions. He 

 published also a " Natural History of Spiders and other curious 

 Insects" (1736), with 53 copperplates. 



His work on insects is little more than a series of very excellent 

 plates illustrating food-plants, early stages, and adults, with 

 frequent parasites, and with single page descriptions of the plates, 

 each of which is dedicated to some royal or noble person, sub 

 scriber to the work. Brief descriptions are given of the different 

 stages and the habits of the insects, and references are given also 

 to the older authors who have treated the same insects. 



These with Reaumur were the great illustrators of the period, 

 and their output represents a very considerable amount of the 

 work accomplished in entomology. 



In looking over this period one is impressed with true fact that 

 in the study of life-histories of insects, as typified by the work of 

 Reaumur, Goedart, and Frisch, the results are as good as any 

 since accomplished. In the study of the metamophoses, anatomy, 

 and physiology of insects, which was almost pioneer work, and 

 in the portrayal of insects and their transformations the period is 

 also notable for its excellent output. In the beginning of a philo 

 sophical classification of insects, Swammerdam and Ray's work, 

 while very imperfect, cannot be overestimated as furnishing the 

 basis and guide for the later and more satisfactory system of 

 Linne. One witnesses also the beginning of wholesome original 

 work and the final abandonment of the ancient superstitions 

 relative to the origin of most insects. The work in general, 

 therefore, of this pre-Linnean period is, much of it, of a most 

 excellent character, and indicates that the science of entomology 

 had intelligent and learned votaries and had reached a very 

 advanced position long before the work of the great Swedish 

 naturalist gave it a definite basis in nomenclature. 



Group IV. Linne and Contemporaries. 



We now come to Linne and his contemporaries, representing 

 in entomology a small group of workers, but containing a number 

 of names which are still well known. This period includes the 

 generation born between 1700 and 1740, and its principal repre 

 sentatives, arranged chronologically, are as follows : 



