PREFACE. ix- 



per on the British Species of the Genus Carex{c). He 

 has therefore placed before his descriptions a Si/- 

 nopsis Specierum, and subjoined^ to such as seemed 

 to require it, some observations in English. In 

 the determination of species', the result of his in- 

 quiries, he flatters himself, may prove useful; par- 

 ticularly as his frequent dissections of these insects, 

 and his necessary attention to their most minute 

 parts, have led him to discover those characters, 

 exclusive of the organs of generation, which dis- 

 tinguish the male from the other sexes. By fol- 

 lowing this clue, he has found that several species, 

 hitherto described as distinct, are only sexual vari- 

 eties; and, by the assistance of the same circum- 

 stance, he has separated many insects of the same j 

 sex, which have usually been regarded as such. " 

 The opportunity afforded him, by the liberality of 

 the President of the Linnean Society, of consulting 

 the cabinet of Linneus, has empowered him to ve- 

 rify a number of species that have been very much 

 mistaken, or very little known ; so that, for the 

 future, he hopes there will be no room for either 

 error or doubt concerning them. To put it as 

 much as possible into the power of entomologists 

 to be acquainted with the insects here described, 

 under each species he has referred to those cabi- 

 nets in which he knows it to be preserved. 



With respect to synonyms, the author spared no 

 pains that his situation permitted him to take. Not 



(c) Lin. Trans, vol. 2. p. 126^ Sec. 



^ ^ P^^^^ssed 



