APPENDIX. 583 



cess of such a work — I mean a popular ' Introduction to Entomology : ' and so 

 long have I been convinced that this want is the greatest bar to the spread of 

 the science amongst us, that in my solitary rambles I have sometimes occupied 

 myself in sketching mentally the plan upon which I conceived it should be 

 composed. If you give me encouragement I think I should be induced to give 

 some form to my project. But it would be still better if you would become a 

 partner in tlie speculation — and why not ? I heartily wish you would let our 

 partnership begin here. I could give you a sketch of my scheme ; you could 

 correct, add to it, or propose another. Out of both one could be made, and we 

 might then divide the several parts between us, and finally jointly amalgamate 

 them into a whole. Pray think of this, and give me your opinion.* 



" Believe me, my dear Sir, 



" Ever yours, 

 " W. Spence." 



Mr. Kirby's answer to the preceding remarks was dated Barham, Dec. 

 17, 1808. After referring to various entomological matters in my letter, 

 he observes : — 



" As our thoughts jumped, as they say, about a ' British Entomology,' so did 

 they as to the preparatory step — an ' Introduction to Entomology,' — at least, 

 I had such a worli in my thoughts, and had gone so far as to draw up a list of 



* It is proper to advert here to a discrepancy between my proposal in the above 

 letter of a popular Introduction to Entomology when I tirst started the idea, and the 

 short account of the origin of our book in my letter to the President of the Entomo- 

 logical Society, announcing the death of Mr. Kirby ("Transactions of the Entomo- 

 logical Society," Vol. i. New Series, Proceedings, p. 19.), in which tlie plan of 

 giving it a popular form is spoken of as subsequent to a first idea I had men- 

 tioned to him, of making it scientific only. The fact is, that this was my impres- 

 sion both in writing our Preface (in which the pkiral number is necessarily used) 

 and the letter to the President of the Entomological Society ; and tliis impression 

 remained until Mr. Ereeman had sent me my letters to Mr. Kirby, and 1 had 

 read tlie above extract. From it I now see, that though my tirst idea of an In- 

 troduction to Entomology was, as I well remember, that of making it scientific 

 merely, but very soon changed into the conviction that a popular way of treating 

 the subject was alone likel}- to fulfil my aim, that of making converts to a study 

 which I found yield me so much delight, — I never mentioned the idea of a merely 

 scientific Introduction to Mr. Kirby at all, but from the first proposed to him its 

 being popular. This, in the many years which elapsed between the project of our 

 book and the writing the Preface, as well as the letter to the President of the 

 Entomological Society, had wholly escaped my recollection, and gave rise to the 

 discrepancy alluded to. In fact, from the moment Mr. Kirby had agreed to join 

 me in carrying out my plan of an Introductory work, any reference to its precise 

 origin vanished from my mind ; all my thoughts for the many years the work 

 occupied us, being devoted to executing and perfecting the design in conjunction 

 with my illustrious friend, without whose aid it could not have been satisfactorily 

 realised. And that I should thus have proposed to him, and induced him to join 

 me in carrying out my original idea, has always been to me a subject of self-gratu- 

 lation ; for not only did our work, in a great degree, dispel the prejudices which had, 

 impeded the study of Entomology, and largely increase the number of its votaries, 

 but it was of essential service to the science, by offering, under its various heads, 

 fit opportunities for the reception from his note-book of the numerous detached ob- 

 servations collected by Mr. Kirby during many years, on the economy and habits 

 of insects, Avhich would istherwise, in all probability, have been lost to the world; 

 and by placing him under the necessity of extending his former studies to a much 

 wider and closer investigation of every department of Entomology, which led to a 

 great accession to his previous knowledge, yielding a rich harvest to the science 

 both in our work and his subsequent ones. 



p r 4 



