Kirby and Spence's Introduction to Entomology, 131 



is obtained of the progress of Entomology from its first dawning 

 as a science to the present advanced state of knowledge respect- 

 ing it. A very curious illustration of the Linnean system is 

 given in a copy of Latin verses by the peet Gray, in which the 

 characters assigned to each of the genera are exhibited within 

 the compass of a single hexameter. 



In the letter on the Geographical Distribution of Insects, 

 many valuable facts are thrown together in illustration of the 

 limits within which certain families appear to be either almost 

 entirely confined, or at least especially prevalent. The enquiry 

 is one which is now regarded with considerable interest, and for 

 the elucidation of which fresh materials are daily accumulating. 

 Under the same head much information is imparted relative to 

 the stations and haunts of insects, the seasons of their appear- 

 ance, and their times of action and repose, which will materially 

 assist the collector, for whose instruction the subsequent letter 

 is also designed. In this the instruments and methods usually 

 employed in their capture are fully described ; and the best 

 plans for preserving and arranging them are pointed out. The 

 want of such a manual as is here furnished has frequently ope- 

 rated to paralyze the exertions of the unpractised collector, and 

 we are therefore gratified to observe it embodied in a work 

 which will find its way into so extensive a circulation as the 

 present. The plan recommended to be pursued by the student 

 in the investigation of insects, will also be found highly service- 

 able to him, and will doubtless receive that attention to which 

 every observation on this subject, from such a quarter, must be 

 entitled. 



.The Appendix presents a list of the authors quoted, which 

 is so arranged as to afford some idea of the works which are 

 most necessary to an entomological library ; together with very 

 copious indexes, an essential appendix to every work of science, 

 and tables of reference to the numerous objects represented in 

 the well-filled illustrative plates. The descriptions of the organs 

 of generation and of the coitus are here also given, but are 

 shrowded from many of the readers of the more popular portions 

 in a learned language, which has evidently been resorted to for 



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