52 STUDY OF NATURAL’ HISTORY. 
in 1770. Drury was a wealthy jeweller, and expended 
large sums in sending out practical collectors to all 
parts of the world, to enrich his cabinet with new 
insects. It is to one of these, Mr. Henry Smeathman, 
that we are indebted for an elaborate and most in- 
teresting account of those wonderful insects, gene- 
rally termed white ants; this remarkable discovery 
was published in the Philosophical Transactions, 
and subsequently translated into French.* This 
is unquestionably one of the most valuable discoveries 
in the natural history of insects ever made ; yielding 
only to that of Huber’s on the bees. 
(22.) Nearly at the same time that the first vo- 
lume of Drury’s Insects was published in England, 
the great work of Martini+, on General Conchology, 
made its appearance in Germany. This bold and 
costly undertaking at once shows how great a 
taste for shells then existed; for it extended, 
with the continuation by Martini, to no less than 
eleven quarto volumes; and, notwithstanding the 
poorness of its figures, it still continues to be one 
of the standard authorities for reference in this 
department : the arrangement, however, is defective, 
and it possesses none of the judgment or the correct 
views of Lister. In 1773, another addition to the 
already numerous collections of entomological figures 
was made by Benjamin Wilks, who published 124 
plates of English moths and butterflies. 
* Mémoire pour servir 4 1’Histoire de quelques Insectes 
connus sous les Noms de Termis ou Fourmis Blanches. Par 
M. H. Smeathman. Ouvrage rédigé en Francois par M. Cy- 
rille Rigaud. Paris, 1786. 8vo. 
+ Martini und Chemnitz. Neue Systematisches Conchi- 
lien Cabinett. Nurnb. 1769—1800. 
