LINNEATSr SOCIETY OF LONDON. XXXIX 



gypsum-quarries at Aix in Provence, where fossil insects are fre- 

 quently found, of which Mr. Curtis, in 1829, had already described, 

 in the ' Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal,' a number of species 

 brought by Messrs. Murchison and LyeU. 



In 1831 Mr. Curtis was elected Corresponding Member of the 

 Royal Georgofili Society of Florence, and in the same year he 

 published a " Description of the Insects brought home by Com- 

 mander James Clark Eoss in his Second Voyage," forming part of 

 the Appendix of Natural History. 



In 1833, on the occasion of his reading a paper " On the Struc- 

 ture of Insects " before the Ashmolean Society of Oxford, he was 

 elected an Honorary Member of that body ; and in 1836 he 

 received the same title from the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia. 



On the completion of his ' British Entomology,' on the 1st of 

 December 1839, Mr. Curtis sought for relaxation from the inces- 

 sant application monthly required during the long space of six- 

 teen years; but in 1841, his friend Dr. Lindley having com- 

 menced the ' G-ardeners' Chronicle,' Curtis undertook the ento- 

 mological editorship, engaging to w^rite articles on the insects 

 injurious to gardeners and farmers, in a popular style, accompanied 

 by figures on wood ; and this task he continued to perform with 

 unabating industry till 1847, when it was taken up by Mr. 

 Westwood. 



Having accumulated a large mass of materials relative to the 

 economy of insects, and being invited by the Council of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of London to furnisli reports upon tlie insects 

 injurious to farm-crops, he visited Suffolk to consult the best 

 farmers upon the subject. These valuable reports, amoimting to 

 sixteen in number, were commenced in 1841, and concluded in 

 1857. They were published in the ' Journal ' of the Society, each 

 being illustrated by one or more plates containing figures of the 

 insects in their different stages, and have subsequently been 

 collected together and published in a single volume, under the 

 title of " Farm Insects, being the Natural History and Economy 

 of the Insects injurious to the field-crops of Great Britain and 

 Ireland, and also those which infest barns and granaries, with 

 suggestions for their destruction." 



In 1843 Mr. Curtis made a tour in Italy, visiting Rome, Naples, 

 and the other principal cities of the south to enjoy a sight of the 

 architectural and other artistic treasures of which he had read so 

 much when studying painting in his early life. In 1844 he left 



