b INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



With regard to the amusement and instruction of the 

 student, much doubtless may be derived from any one 

 of the sciences alluded to : but Entomology certainly is 

 not behind any of her sisters in these respects ; and if you 

 are fond of novelty, and anxious to make new discove- 

 ries, she will open to you a more ample field for these 

 than either Botany or the higher branches of Zoology. 



A new animal or plant is seldom to be met with even 

 by those who have leisure and opportunity for exten- 

 sive researches ; but if you collect insects you will find, 

 however limited the manor upon which you can pursue 

 your game, that your efforts are often rewarded by the 

 capture of some non~descript or rarity at present not 

 possessed by other entomologists, for I have seldom seen 

 a cabinet so meager as not to possess some unique spe- 

 cimen. Nay, though you may have searched every spot 

 in your neighbourhood this year, turned over every 

 stone, shaken every bush or tree, and fished every pool, 

 you will not have exhausted its insect productions. Do 

 the same another and another, and new treasures will 

 still continue to enrich your cabinet. If you leave your 

 own vicinity for an entomological excursion, your pro- 

 spects of success are still further increased : and even if 

 confined in bad weather to your inn, the Avindows of 

 your apartment, as I have often experienced, will add 

 to your stock. If a sudden shower obliges you at any 

 time to seek shelter under a tree, your attention will be 

 attracted, and the tedium of your station relieved, 

 where the botanist could not hope to find even a new 

 lichen or moss, by the appearance of several insects, 

 driven there perhaps by the same cause as yourself, 

 that you have not observed before. Should you, as I 



