Stephens's Illustrations of British Entomology, 471 



the authour confined hhnself to a purely scientific Species Insec- 

 torum Britannicorum. With so much of his present work as 

 could fairly have been included under such a title we confess our 

 unmixed satisfaction. The species, so far as the Illustratimis 

 have yet proceeded, are carefully characterized; and, where 

 necessary, niinutely described ; their differences are explained ; 

 their ceconomy and the situations in which they are found are 

 pointed out ; and the localities, in which the rarer ones have 

 occurred, are particularized. Many of the more interesting are 

 figured, and the engravings are respectably executed. The work 

 is in fact indispensable to all who are attached to the study of 

 British insects, and may safely be recommended to them as 

 deserving of their encouragement. Acuteness of discrimination 

 forms its most prominent characteristic ; and if the subdivision 

 of genera and species be occasionally carried to an extent greater 

 than to some Entomologists would have seemed desireable, the 

 practice is fully borne out by the example of those moderns 

 whose productions are looked up to with almost universal respect. 

 If we were to complain of any portion of the work, it would 

 be that its authour had done too much rather than too little. 

 The diflfuseness, sometimes approaching to disquisition, of re- 

 marks which in a work of this nature can only be regarded as 

 incidental, occupies unnecessarily too large a proportion of the 

 pages which might be devoted to much better matter. We trust 

 that this will be abridged, and that some plan will be adopted for 

 giving in a more concise manner the information relative to lo- 

 calities. Conciseness in fact is essential ; and the want of it 

 would be fatal to our hopes of obtaining from Mr. Stephens that 

 vast body of information which he alone can impart to us, as it 

 is possessed by no other individual. On the plan with which the 

 work has commenced few individuals now living caij expect to 

 witness its conclusion : but let brevity, the clear, precise, and 

 elegant brevity of the great master of Natural Science be stu- 

 diously cultivated, and a very few years would place within our 

 reach the means of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the 

 most extensive and numerous series of animal existences which 

 give life to our favoured country. 



