INSECTS 



DESCRIPTIONS, &c. 



OF THE 



INSECTS BROUGHT HOME BY COMMANDER JAMES CLARK 



ROSS, R.N., F.R.S., &c. 



BY JOHN CURTIS, ESQ., F. L. S., Sic. 



However delighted the naturaHst may be with the productions of his native soil, he 

 cannot fail to take a deep interest in objects that are transported from distant regions, 

 possessing, as they do, the chaniis of novelty, and frequently presenting to him new 

 types of form, or at least species, that he has never before had the opportunity of 

 investigating. 



The little collection of Insects lately brought from the Arctic Regions by Com- 

 mander Ross, is consequently highly interesting, and the observations interspersed 

 through the following pages, from his notes, contain data and information that are 

 very important to the entomologist. 



I may here briefly observe, that all the forms in the collection of Insects are strictly 

 European, and the greatest variety, as well as number, was found amongst the Lepi- 

 doptera, but tliis might arise from the insects of that order being larger and more con- 

 spicuous, and consequently more likely to attract the attention, than smaller and 

 sometimes almost inanimate objects. I tliink it very probable, however, that the 

 Coleoptera are less abundant in the Polar Regions than the Ilymenoptera, Lepidoptera, 

 and Diptera. 



