190 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Linnseus's System. London : Printed for Benjamin White, 

 at Horace's Head, Fleet Street. MDCCLXXIII." 



Such is the title-page of a strange old book, which has fallen 

 into my hands, though not my possession, a short description of 

 which may perhaps interest some of your readers. 



Pasted inside the book is a " Dedication to the "Worthy 

 Members of the Aurelian Society," enclosed in a wreath of 

 flowers, and all round the margin of the page are coloured figures 

 of the larger caterpillars, wherein Atropos is called " the Bee 

 Tyger." The dedication is well worth quoting: — "Gentlemen, — 

 Permit me the honour of laying before you Twelve new Designs 

 of English Butterflies: creatures whose Elegance and Variety of 

 Beauty demand our admiration. Ignorance long imagined them 

 the Spontaneous Productions of Putrifying Matter and undesigning 

 Chance : Causes as little able to form an Animal as to create a 

 World : but your Discoveries have Rectify'd that mistake and 

 prov'd them to proceed from Parents like themselves : after a 

 constant tho' wonderful Order of Generation. The pregnant 

 female, with unerring Sagacity, deposits her Eggs in some 

 Concealment, where the infant brood may find, as soon as 

 hatch'd, immediate and proper Sustenance. Here they feed and 

 thrive and cast off several skins, till arrived at full growth, every 

 Species in a manner peculiar to itself, is changed into an Aurelia : 

 whence in due time a Moth or Butterfly issues forth, array'd with 

 all the glories of its parent. This too partakes the Joys of Love, 

 lays Eggs and dies : and thus one race succeeds another in an 

 uniform and unalterable manner. The care that^has been taken to 

 render these designs exact representations of Nature, may, I hope, 

 recommend them to your favour, and excuse the presumption of, 

 Gentlemen, your most obedient Servant, Benj: Wilkes." 



In the Preface, after a passing tribute to the memory of "that 

 well known and ingenious Naturalist Mr. Joseph Dandridge " and 

 his "noble Collection," the author goes on to answer "some ill- 

 natured people, that love to find fault with everything," who have 

 found fault with him for "enriching his Undertaking with some 

 of the most beautiful Productions of Nature in the Vegetable 

 Kingdom"; explaining that, as most caterpillars feed on the oak, 

 elm, blackthorn, whitethorn, willow, and nettle, he has judged it 

 unnecessary to repeat those subjects, and has merely placed a 

 small fragment in the plate, making the main subject one of the 



