INTRODUCTORY LETTER. ^ 39 



not endued with sensation, are organized. In the last and highest place, 

 ranks the animal world, consisting of beings that are both organized and 

 sentient. To this scale of precedence, the great modern luminary of 

 Natural History, notwithstanding that Botany was always his favorite pur- 

 suit, has given his sanction, acknowledging in the preface to his Fauna 

 Suecica, that although the vegetable kingdom is nobler than the mineral, 

 yet the animal is more excellent than the vegetable. Now it is an indis- 

 putable axiom, I should think, that the more exalted the object the more 

 excellent the study. By this observation, however, I would by no means 

 be thought to depreciate or discountenance the study either of plants or 

 minerals. All the works of our Creator are great, and worthy of our 

 attention and investigation, the lowest in the scale as well as the highest, 

 the most minute and feeble as well as those that exceed in magnitude and 

 might. Nor ought those whose inclination or genius leads them to one 

 department, to say to those who prefer another — "we have no need of 

 you" — for each in his place, by diffusing the knowledge of his works, and 

 adding to the stock of previous discoveries, contributes to promote the 

 glory of the Great Architect of the universe and the good of his creatures. 



It is not my wish to claim for my favorite science more than of right 

 belongs to her ; therefore, when the question is concerning rank, I must 

 concede to the higher orders of animals, I mean Fishes, Amphibia, Birds, 

 and Quadrupeds, their due priority and precedence.^ I shall only observe 

 here, that there may exist circumstances which countervail rank, and tend 

 to render the study of a lower order of beings more desirable than that of 

 a higher: when, for instance, the objects of the higher study are not to 

 be come at or preserved without great difficulty and expense ; when they 

 are few in number; or, when they are already well ascertained and 

 known : circumstances which attach to the study of those animals that 

 precede insects, while they do not attach to the study of insects themselves. 



With regard to the amusement and instruction of the student, much 

 doubtless may be derived from any one of the sciences alluded to ; but 

 Entomology certainly is not behind any of her sisters in these respects ; 

 and if you are fond of novelty, and anxious to make new discoveries, she 

 will open to you a more ample field for these than either Botany or the 

 higher branches of Zoology. 



A new vertebrate animal or plant is seldom to be met with even by 

 those who have leisure and opportunity for extensive researches ; but if 

 you collect insects, you will find, however limited the manor upon which 

 you can pursue your game, that your efforts are often rewarded by the 

 capture of some nondescript or rarity at present not possessed by other 

 entomologists, for I have seldom seen a cabinet so meagre as not to pos- 

 sess some unique specimen. Nay, though you may have searched every 

 spot in your neighborhood this year, turned over every stone, shaken 

 every bush or tree, and fished every pool, you will not have exhausted its 

 insect productions. Do the same another year and another, and new 



J If, however, rank were to be estimated by number of species or individuals of a species, 

 the pre-eminence could be claimed by insects, which, from the calculations made by 

 various entomologists, probably amount to 400,000, or even more, perfectly distinct from 

 each other ; while for all the other classes of animals together, 30,000 species would be a 

 hiirh estimate. 



