TREFACE TO AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGY.* 



The author's design, in the present work, is to exemplify 

 the genera and species of the insects of the United States, 

 by means of colored engravings. He enters upon the task 

 without any expectation of pecuniary remuneration, and 

 fully aware of the many obstacles by which he must inevita- 

 bly be opposed. 



The graphic execution of the work will exhibit the present 

 state of the arts in this country, as applied to this particular 

 department of natural science, as no attention will be want- 

 ing, in this respect, to render the work worthy of the en- 

 couragement of the few who have devoted a portion of their 

 attention to animated nature. 



To such persons, as well as to those whose information i.s 

 sufficiently comprehensive to enable them duly to appreciate 

 the various departments of human knowledge, this book is 

 more especially addressed ; and the author would happily 

 profit by their friendly co-operation in the correction of any 

 errors that may appear, in the enunciation of new facts in 

 the manners and economy of insects, or in the addition of 

 species and localities. 



It is not possible, in the present state of our collections, 

 to publish all the species in regular systematic succession ; 

 and the Entomologist will therefore observe, that although 

 the specimens are somewhat indiscriminately described and 



* The dedication of this work is as follows : To William Maclure, 

 President of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and of 

 the American Geological Society, Member of the American Philosophical 

 Society, &c. &c., distinguished as a successful cultivator, and munificent 

 patron, of the Natural Sciences, this work is respectfully inscribed, by 

 his much obliged and most obedient servant, The Authok. 



