XXXVl PEOCEEDINaS OF THE 



valued by collectors at the price of £5 ; and to tlie time of his 

 death he preserved a specimen of the almost equally rare Seliothis 

 dipsacea, which he had captured under his hat, on Mousehold 

 Heath, near Norwich. At an early age, also, he manifested a great 

 love for colouring small engravings, and making drawings of flowers 

 and landscapes. At this period his circle of acquaintance was 

 enlarged by the addition to it of Dr. (afterwards Sir) James Ed- 

 ward Smith, and of the family of Mr. Hooker, the father of Sir 

 W. J. Hooker. The latter was at this time an ardent entomolo- 

 gist, and he was of great assistance to young Curtis in the naming 

 of his insects, and giving him rare and local species. An excursion 

 to the fens of Horning was rewarded by the capture of Papilio 

 Machaon and its larva on Selinum palustre, as well as of Hypo- 

 gymna dispar. 



When sixteen years of age, being obliged to choose a profes- 

 sion, he entered the oflSce of a lawyer, although, when there, dry 

 legal technicalities were but little to his taste, and his desk pro- 

 bably contained more of natural history than of law. After 

 two years thus occupied, Mr. Curtis became acquainted with 

 ]\Ir. Simon "Wilkin, a wealthy landed proprietor in Norfolk, who, 

 like himself, was passionately devoted to entomology. This gentle- 

 man, on reaching twenty-one, came to reside on his estate at 

 Cossey HaU, where he invited Curtis to live with him as his com- 

 panion. Here, with a well-stored library, a well-named collection 

 of insects, and congenial associates, the two friends spent their 

 time most happily ; and an entomological society was formed, in 

 which the names of the Revs. W. Kirby and J. Burrell, Messrs. 

 Wilkin, Brightwell, Joseph Hooker, John Lindley, Joseph Spar- 

 shall, and ten or twelve more were enrolled as members, — Mr. 

 Wnkin acting as President, and Mr. Curtis as Secretary. 



Mr. Wnkin having successfully studied Latreille's ' Genera Crus- 

 taceorum,' Curtis became so charmed with that naturalist's system 

 that he formed a resolution to describe and delineate aU the genera, 

 and thenceforward lost no opportunity of making dissections and 

 drawings of the types of aU he could obtain, or copies of figures of 

 exotic genera from the most esteemed Continental works. To pro- 

 mote his object, he acquired the art of etching and engraving on 

 copper, his first published essay being the plates for Kirby and 

 Spence's ' Introduction to Entomology.' Of these plates five only, 

 containing figures illustrating the difierent orders of insects, were 

 at first published, in the first and second volvimes of that work, the 

 third and fourth of which did not appear till 1826. The latter 



