4; INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



of our future correspondence ; my object now, as the 

 champion and advocate of Entomology, is to point out 

 to you her comparative advantages, and to remove the 

 veil which has hitherto concealed those attractions, and 

 that grace and beauty, which entitle her to equal ad- 

 miration at least with her sister branches of Natural 

 History. 



In estimating the comparative value of the study of 

 any department in this branch of science, we ought to 

 contrast it with others, as to the rank its objects hold in 

 the scale of being; the amusement and instruction which 

 the student may derive from it ; and its utility to soci- 

 ety at large. With respect to public utility, the study of 

 each of the three kingdoms may perhaps be allowed to 

 stand upon nearly an equal footing; I shall not, there- 

 fore, enter upon that subject till I come to consider the 

 question Cui bono ? and to point out the uses of Ento- 

 mology, but confine myself now to the two first of these 

 circumstances. 



As to rank, I must claim for the entomologist some 

 degree of precedence before the mineralogist and the 

 botanist. The mineral kingdom, whose objects are nei- 

 ther organized nor sentient, stands certainly at the foot 

 of the scale. Next above this is the vegetable, whose 

 lovely tribes, though not endued with sensation, are or- 

 ganized. In the last and highest place ranks the animal 

 world, consisting of beings that are both organized and 

 sentient. To this scale of precedence the great modern 

 luminary of Natural History, notwithstanding that Bo- 

 tany was always his favourite pursuit, has given his 

 sanction, acknowledging in the preface to his Fauna 

 Suecicay that although the vegetable kingdom is nobler 



