Greville Smyth, and presented by Lady Smyth 

 in 1906. 



The whole of one side of the ground floor of the room 

 has been allocated to the group. In the upright portion 

 of the wall cases, sixty feet in length, have been placed 

 an unique set of insect preparations, illustrating the 

 structure, life history, and essential details of all the 

 .chief insect orders. These are supplied with descriptive 

 labels, and in the case of orders of special importance, 

 such as Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, life-history groups 

 of land and water beetles, butterflies, and moths have 

 been added, together with typical examples of the chief 

 families, the family characters being shown by diagrams 

 and dissected or marked specimens. The desk cases 

 have been filled with a representative series of 

 Lepidoptera arranged to illustrate the main families. In 

 place of the usual arrangement of the specimens in 

 vertical rows, the butterflies are mounted, where possible, 

 in association with the food plant, and in various 

 attitudes such as are assumed during life, whilst larval 

 and pupal stages are also included. The great series of 

 insects forming the Greville Smyth collection are 

 arranged immediately below the desk cases. It is 

 possible therefore for the students of entomology to study 

 in close association with one another the main facts of 

 structure and development, the divisions and characters 

 of families, and the general range of genera and species. 

 The work of preparing, refitting, and suitably displaying 

 the collections has occupied considerable time, and much 

 yet remains to be done. 



It is intended that the balcony desk cases shall 

 ultimately contain series demonstrating the essential 

 structural features of the chief orders, and the principles 

 of classification, but as this is a task involving months 



