TO MY READERS. 19 



Audubon, who, in their splendid works, have minutely described the 

 North American Birds ; as well as to Professor Holbrook for his 

 work on North American Reptiles. Still, in spite of all this, we 

 have no general work on North American Insects, except a few 

 numbers of the American Entomology, by Thomas Say; Major 

 Leconte's Iconography of some genera of Butterflies ; and Dr. Harris' 

 elaborate report on the injurious Insects of Massachusetts. 



It is time that our people in general, and particularly our youth, 

 are made acquainted with a class of animals which everywhere 

 surround us, day and night, and which furnish us amusement, food, 

 colouring substances, and medicines, in order that they may be able 

 to distinguish the useful from the injurious ones, the harmless from 

 the noxious, and to discover those which may furnish new articles 

 for manufactures, commerce, and domestic industry. 



For these reasons I have yielded to the solicitations of numerous 

 friends, and am about to lay before the North American public the 

 fruits of my Entomological investigations, pursued for many years 

 during my extensive travels in Europe, Asia, and on this Continent, 

 and accompanied by a thorough examination of all the works 

 published on this subject in the various European languages. 



I propose to issue this work in monthly numbers, each number 

 containing a coloured engraving representing several Beetles, Bugs, 

 or Butterflies, &c. Six numbers will constitute a volume, and will 

 be accompanied by an engraved portrait of a distinguished Naturalist, 

 Amateur, or Patron of this Science. It is my design to make this 

 work a valuable ornament for the parlour table, as well as an 

 instructive and amusing companion ; and should it meet with their 

 approbation, I shall continue my investigation until I have presented 

 my readers with a faithful, life-like representation of all the principal 

 species of North American Insects. To accomplish this, I am aware 

 will be attended with no little difficulty, for, as in the Mammalia and 



