286 HULL SCIENTIFIC AND FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 



No doubt this meeting on the Humber Bank, in a district where 

 certainly the appearance of the land has considerably changed since 

 his day, and where Donatio, Zostera would now be rare indeed, led 

 to that correspondence and friendship which ultimately resulted in 

 the publication, between the years 1815 and 1826, of Kirby and 

 Spence's classical " Introduction to Entomology : or Elements of 

 the Natural History of Insects." This work is perhaps the most 

 popular, and certainly the most widely circulated, of all the early 

 entomological works. The first volume, which contains 538 pages 

 and 3 plates, was issued in 1815; the second volume, which con- 

 tained 530 pages and 2 plates, was issued in 1817 ; the third volume, 

 containing 740 pages and 15 plates, was issued in 1826; and the 

 fourth volume, containing 634 pages and 10 plates, together with 

 explanations of the plates, an anatomical index, orismological index, 

 index to the genera of insects, and an English index to the whole 

 work, in the same year. Undoubtedly the great charm of the plates 

 lies in the beautiful drawings showing the details of various parts 

 of the insects. Plate XXIV. is very interesting, as it contains 

 sketches of the various appliances used in Spence's day in con- 

 nection with the catching and rearing of insects. The objects 

 figured are as follows: — "The bag-net; the landing-net; Mr. 

 Paul's net ; the fly-net ; the forceps ; the breeding-cage ; apparatus 

 for effectually killing large moths, &c, (a) the upper piece of the 

 tube, (b) the lower, (c) the saucepan ; a beetle transfixed by a pin ; 

 a butterfly, ditto, with the wings set out by card braces," &c. 

 The frontispiece to the fourth volume is a portrait of Spence, from 

 which the illustration herewith (Plate XXXI.) is made. My own 

 copy of this work was a presentation copy to the Holderness Agri- 

 cultural Society, and contains the signature from which the block 

 on the same plate is made. Kirby and Spence's work is still 

 frequently consulted by entomologists, and the original edition has 

 been largely reprinted in England and abroad. By 1843 a sixth 

 edition had been issued. The delay in publishing this work was on 

 account of Spence's ill health, which also necessitated his leaving 

 Hull for the South of England, about 1819. 



As might be expected, Spence played a prominent part in the 

 intellectual welfare of the town. He was intimately associated with 

 the Literary and Philosophical Society of Hull, and took a great 

 interest in its collections, which are now absorbed in our municipal 

 museum. The cabinets of insects were originally arranged by him. 

 An admirable marble bust of Spence, by Marachetti, was presented 

 by his son to the Literary and Philosophical Society, and is now in 

 our museum. He was a prominent member of the Subscription 

 Library, at that time principally used and influenced by the scientific 

 and educated men of the town, and for some time was its treasurer. 



