70 HAUSTELLATA.— LEPIDOPTERA. 



object which should employ the attention of the student of nature 

 is the form, or structure, with which she has endowed her multi- 

 farious productions, and that an intimate acquaintance with the 

 species of whicii they are composed is not only useless, but ridi- 

 culous. 



In opposition, however, to such assertions, I maintain, that an 

 attentive examination of species, nny even of varieties, is of more 

 real utility to mankind, than those researches which are carried on 

 solely for the purpose of ascertaining the actual structure of animals, 

 especially when conducted, as is frequently the case, without refer- 

 ence to their economy. What advantage, beyond the mere matter 

 of fact, as scientific truths, can result from knowing that one kind 

 of gnat is distinguished from another * l)y the comparative length 

 of the palpi (or feelers), the habits of the two being similar,: that 

 one genus of predaceous beetles has a notch or two more in its 

 mandibles (or jaws) than another; or that the 1st, 2d, 3d, &c., 

 articulation of the antennae (or horns), in some of the last group, is 

 either longest or shortest ? The knowledge of such facts, though 

 highly important, as exhibiting the method in which the series of 

 affinities is preserved, indisputably conduces less to the interests of 

 society than an acquaintance with the habits of species, or, as before 

 observed, even of varieties ; a point readily illustrated by inferences 

 drawn from the higher animals, in which classes it will be no difficult 

 task to find examples which show that the greatest benefit arises to 

 mankind from an attention to the varieties. Look at our domestic 

 animals, for instance; at the very important services peculiarly 

 rendered by each variety ; and how various are those furnished by 

 the most faithful of all, the dog? Are not the several instincts of 

 the different varieties of that animal the special objects of our care, 

 and do we not employ them accordingly? Who would follow tlie 

 pleasures of the chase, accompanied by the mastiff or turnspit ? or 

 consign the guardianship of his property to the greyhound or 

 beagle ? Again, the different qualities of horses, oxen, and sheep, 

 might be advantageously pointed out, so far as their real utility is 

 concerned f , if such a sordid consideration alone is to influence the 



* E. g. Culex and Anopheles. 



•j- "What advantage has accrued to mankind by the incomparably accurate in- 

 vestigations of the learned author of Monographia Apiun Angliae ? a work in 

 which all the species^ known at the period it was written, are arranged in con- 



