INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 3 



they every where meet and allure us, enchanting us by 

 their beauty, regaling us by their fragrance, and in- 

 teresting us as much by their subservience to our luxu- 

 ries and comfort, as to the necessary support and well- 

 being of our life. Beasts, birds, and fishes also, in 

 some one or other of these respects, attract our notice ; 

 but insects, unfortunate insects, are so far from attract- 

 ing us, that we are accustomed to abhor them from our 

 childhood. The first knowledge that Ave get of them is 

 as tormentors ; they are usually pointed out to us by 

 those about us as ugly, filthy, and noxious creatures; 

 and the whole insect world, butterflies perhaps and 

 some few others excepted, are devoted by one universal 

 ban to proscription and execration, as fit only to be 

 trodden under our feet and crushed : so that often, be- 

 fore we can persuade ourselves to study them, we liave 

 to remove from our minds prejudices deeply rooted and 

 of long standing. 



Another principal reason Avhich has contributed to 

 keep Entomology in the back ground arises from the 

 diminutive size of the objects of which it treats. Being 

 amongst the most minute of nature's productions, they 

 do not so readily calch the eye of the observer; and 

 when they do, mankind in general are so apt to estimate 

 the worth and importance of things by their bulk, that 

 because we usually measure them by the duodecimals 

 of an inch instead of by the foot or by the yard, insects 

 are deemed too insignificant parts of the creation, and 

 of too little consequence to its general welfare to ren- 

 der them worthy of any serious attention or study. 

 What small foundation there is for such prejudices and 

 misconception, I yliall endeavour to show in the course 



B2 



