22 



the original specimen of the Sphinx I'Jp/iemenefor/tiis ' of Hawortli, 

 an insect which has much perplexed Lepidopterists, and which proves 

 to be allied to Psyche, &c.; and our Transactions contain a memoir 

 by myself upon a remarkable gregarious species of Butterfly, commu- 

 nicated to me by Mi-. Rees, from Mexico. 



DiPTERA. — In the order Diptera, if we except the ponderous work 

 of Robineau Desvoidy upon the genus Musca of Linneeus'-, and the 

 publication of M. Macquart's volume forming part of the series of the 

 ' Suites a Buff on' '\ but little novelty of any extent has appeared since the 

 completion of the works of Meigen* and Weidemann *. I must not, 

 however, omit to mention Mr. Haliday's valuable memoir upon the 

 Dolichopidce, published in the Zoological Journal '', as well as several 

 detailed memoirs from the pen of the same gentleman and Mr. Walker, 

 in various numbers of the Entomological Magazine, in which con- 

 siderable additions have been made to our indigenous list. And 

 lastly, Mr. Spence has laid before our Society several communica- 

 tions relative to the Hessian Fly and its parasites, upon which subject 

 a memoir from the pen of Mr. Kerrick is expected. 



1 have at length brought this long list to a close, not I fear, how- 

 ever, before I have fatigued many of my hearers with the recital. I 

 would willingly have compressed the subject into narrower limits; 

 but this has been impossible, from the great number of invaluable 

 works recently published upon the various branches of our science. 

 One thing is certainly evident from wliat has been brought forward, 

 namely, that the attention of many distinguished men has been 

 especially devoted to Entomology, and great has been the result of 

 their labours. But, gentlemen, how much remains still to be done — 

 how boundless are those fields of pure and unalloyed delight in 

 which the observer of nature may wander from " morn till dewy eve," 

 plucking bright floAvers at every step ! The science which we culti- 

 vate is one not of names alone; we have living objects for our con- 

 templation — and who will affirm that a single individual of all the 

 ten or twelve thousand British species of insects has been thoroughly 

 studied in all the various relations of its natural history and oeco- 

 nomy, internal and external anatomy, in its affinities and analogies, &c. 

 Take, for instance, the very connnonest of the insect tribes, the Do- 

 mestic Fly, and how many interesting queries, including those sug- 

 gested by Mr. Spence, might be proposed, to which not even the 

 most skilful entomologist would be able to give a reply ! 



Trulv, the harvest is plenteous — but let us hope that the labourers 



' Index EnUmiologicus, &c., 8vo. With plates. By W.Wood, F.R.S., &c. 



2 Essai siir les Myodaires par le Docteur J. B. Robineau Desvoidy, 1830, 4to, 

 pp. 812, being the 10th volume of the Memoires preseutes par divers Savans a 

 I'Acad. Roy. des Sc. de I'Institut de France. 



3 Hist. Nat. des Ins. Dipteres. Par M. Macquart. 8vo. Vol. I. Paris, 1834. With 

 an atlas of plates. 



* Systematische Beschreibung der bekannten Europaiscber Zweiflugeligen In- 

 sekten. Von J. W. Meigen. Vol. I— VI. 1818—1830. 8vo. 



* Aussereuropaische Zweiflugelige Insekten; beschrieben von Dr. Ch. R. W. 

 Wiedetnann. 2 Vol. 8vo. Hamm, 1828. 



6 No. 1 0. 



