168 NEW WORKS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 



man, however great, has so thoroughly comprehended any subject 

 as to have exhausted it ; every phase of nature has yet at least 

 another point from which it may be viewed. For observers and 

 reasoners Natural History still offers a boundless field. I have no 

 wish to elevate Entomology above its rank in the scale of Natural 

 History science, nor to laud it as a panacea for the evils ac- 

 cruing to society from the waste of time ; but I am sure that whether 

 as a recreation, a study, or both, it would give to multitudes a 

 pleasure, of which, although so sadly in want, they have now no 

 idea. 



" When it is considered that there are above ten thousand species 

 of insects in Britain, it will be obvious how few of the wonders of 

 insect life I have been able to indicate within the limited compass 

 of these pages. For the same reason it will easily be understood, 

 that no single individual can ever hope to have within his own ex- 

 perience the Natural History of even the insects of his own coun- 

 try ; and when the facts I have mentioned have not come under my 

 own eyes, or when they have already been graphically set forth by 

 others, I have preferred, as the more effective and honest course, to 

 quote the very words of the narrators, rather than to give a story 

 of my own founded upon them. 



" My endeavour has been to put some of the more prominent and 

 interesting characteristics of insect life into a readable form, to point 

 out some of the best localities for insects, and the methods of cap- 

 ture, with the hope that the readers will be induced to go and ex- 

 amine the objects for themselves. If I shall have succeeded in this 

 labour of my leisure hours, I may be induced to continue the work ; 

 but at any rate I shall be happy to answer any inquiries addressed 

 to me through the post." 



PRACTICAL HINTS RESPECTING MOTHS 



AND BUTTERFLIES, with Notices of their 



Localities ; forming a Calendar of Entomological 



Operations throughout the Year in pursuit of 



Lepidoptera. By Richard Shield. \2mo. pp. 194. 



Price 3s. London : John Van Voorst. 



This work divides the subject, not into the places where insects 

 occur, but into the months in which they are met with ; thus, there 

 are twelve chapters, one for each month in the year, and under each 

 month the reader is cautioned what Lepidopterous insects he should 

 be searching for, and how and where he is likely to find them. In 

 our younger days how we should have revelled in such a book ? 



