PREFACE, 

 possessed of an extensive entomological library of 

 his own, he has omitted no opportunity of consult- 

 ing those of others ; especially the magnificent col- 

 lection of Sir Joseph Banks, so liberally open to 

 naturalists: but his distance from the metropolis 

 prevented his having any other than occasional re- 

 course to this invaluable treasure-house of Natural 

 History. Knowing how customary it is with au- 

 thors, not excepting Linneus himself, to adopt 

 synonyms without sufficient examination, a prac- 

 tice that has proved a fruitful source of error and 

 almost inextricable confusion, he has been particu- 

 larly cautious to refer to no author, whose descrip- 

 tion or figure of any individual insect he has not 

 compared with the insect itself. And, that he 

 might trust as little as possible to memory in this 

 case, he carried his whole collection of specimens 

 both to London and Norwich ; so that in this de- 

 partment he hopes he has rectified many mistakes 

 of his predecessors. There is one author, J. L. 

 Christius, who has treated upon the Hymenoptera 

 class, of whom he was not able to make so much 

 use as he could have wished, from his ignorance of 

 the German language : to his figures he frequently 

 refers, but as he cannot consult the descriptions, he 

 does this sometimes with less confidence, than if 

 he could compare his insects with both. Mr. 

 Marsham, however, upon whose judgment he pla- 

 ces the greatest reliance, compared the specimens 

 with this author's figures, and approved of the re- 

 ferences made to them in this work. 



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