52 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



in 1770. Drury was a wealthy jeweller, and expended 

 large sums in sending out practical collectors to all 

 parts of the world, to enrich his cabinet with new 

 insects. It is to one of these, Mr. Henry Smeathman, 

 that we are indebted for an elaborate and most in- 

 teresting account of those wonderful insects, gene- 

 rally termed white ants ; this remarkable discovery 

 was published in the Philosophical Transactions, 

 and subsequently translated into French.* This 

 is unquestionably one of the most valuable discoveries 

 in the natural history of insects ever made ; yielding 

 only to that of Huber's on the bees. 



(22.) Nearly at the same time that the first vo- 

 lume of Drury 's Insects was published in England, 

 the great work of Martini f, on General Conchology, 

 made its appearance in Germany. This bold and 

 costly undertaking at once shows how great a 

 taste for shells then existed; for it extended, 

 with the continuation by Martini, to no less than 

 eleven quarto volumes ; and, notwithstanding the 

 poorness of its figures, it still continues to be one 

 of the standard authorities for reference in this 

 department : the arrangement, however, is defective, 

 and it possesses none of the judgment or the correct 

 views of Lister. In 1773, another addition to the 

 already numerous collections of entomological figures 

 was made by Benjamin Wilks, who published 124? 

 plates of English moths and butterflies. 



* Memoire pour servir a FHistoire de quelques Insectes 

 connus sous les Noms de Termis ou Fourmis Blanches. Far 

 M. H. Smeathman. Ouvrage redige en Francois par M. Cy- 

 rille Rigaud. Paris, 1786. 8vo. 



f Martini und Chemnitz. Neue Systematisches Conchi- 

 lien Cabinett. Numb. 1769—1800. 



