PREFACE. 



" Why should he catch us? Does he live on moths ? " was 

 the pertinent question of Pronuba to Fimbria's assertion, 

 that trees were sugared for a sinister purpose. 



We have ourselves more than once been posed by the 

 somewhat similar inquiry, when surrounded by the small 

 fry which prevail in Charlton sand-pit and similar localities, 

 " What do you catch 'em for ? Are they good to eat ? " 



From which we gather that these inquisitive specimens of 

 the human race and the loquacious Pronuba alike regard 

 eating and drinking, as the "summum bonum;" that there 

 is another kind of pabulum, namely, food for the mind, 

 seems beyond the compass of their ideas. 



The present volume of the Annual endeavours, like its 

 predecessors, to furnish a varied repast for the Entomolo- 

 gical palate ; hence the papers are purposely constructed of 

 variable scientific intensity, and embrace the four orders, 

 Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Neu- 

 roptera ; the collectors and students of the last group we 

 fear are not numerous, but we trust to a gradual increase in 



