PREFACE. 



IN this little volume my object has been to give 

 a short Sketch of our British Insects, with the 

 hope of inducing dwellers in the country to take an 

 interest in these winged denizens of the air. 



I believe the contents of the work will be found 

 to be accurate. In the classification and divisions 

 into families or groups I have adopted those which 

 have the sanction of Entomologists eminent in their 

 respective departments. The works of Westwood, 

 Stainton, Rye, Shuckard, Staveley, Newman, Ormerod, 

 Curtis, Lowne, Noel Humphreys, Duncan, Walker, 

 Lubbock, F. Smith, Dallas, Douglas and Scott, etc, 

 have been constantly before me and freely used. 



After the Reader has acquired, as I trust he may 

 be able to do, a general knowledge — a sort of 

 bird's-eye view — of insect life as exhibited in the 

 fields and lanes of this country, he cannot do better 



