MR. DRURY'S PREFACE 



TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



VOL. III. 



Grateful for the favourable reception the two preceding volumes of this work have 

 met from the lovers of Natural History, it is with pleasure that I now present them, though 

 late, with this my third and last volume, which has been completed in opposition to greater 

 disadvantages and disappointments than attended either of the others. 



It may not be superfluous to inform my readers, that this publication is the result of 

 such leisure hours only as could be spared from an indispensable assiduity to immediate 

 business, and a necessary attention, at that time, to an impaired constitution. 



This being taken into consideration, little apology will be required for the length of 

 time I have been in bringing it out, by those who know what trouble we must necessarily 

 have with the various artists, who are employed in executing the different parts of such a 

 work, and with what scrupulous exactness and care every minute part ought to be examined 

 and corrected. This unavoidable delay, however, has been productive of another circum- 

 stance, which compels me to entreat all their candour and indulgence. 



I have always made it a rule of my conduct to promote Natural History by every 

 method in my power. My cabinet has therefore been open to all those gentlemen, from 

 whatever part of the world they came, who made Entomology their study. In consequence 

 of this permission, descriptions of many of the insects now published have got abroad some 

 time since, and even figures of several of them have made their appearance. This I did 

 not expect, as many of my plates were entirely finished some months, and even years, 

 before those above-mentioned could have got forth. This will account for the seeming 

 contradiction in many places, upon comparing the descriptions with the Index, where many 

 insects are described and mentioned as new ones, but in the Index have their synonyms 

 given in various authors. The truth is, the descriptions were made about the year 1775, 

 between which time and the present those authors published their respective works. 



But who can foresee disappointments, or avoid their effects ? It may be urged, that 

 these plates might have been omitted, and others substituted. In so doing, however, I could 

 III b 



