72 ' STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



No additions had been made to the natural history 

 of Sweden, since the publication of the delightful 

 Fauna of that country by Linnaeus ; but, in 1798, G 

 Paykull*, oneof the ministers of the king, commenced 

 an elaborate work on the coleopterous insects of his 

 native country, which extended to three volumes. 

 The last name we shall mention of this entomo- 

 logical era, is that of Laspeyres, who has most 

 beautifully and ably illustrated and described the 

 European Sesice, in a work which must long remain 

 a model for future monographers.-]- Finally, we may 

 here mention Mr. Dillwyn's J Conchological work, 

 which, like that of Villers in regard to insects, is an 

 attempt to notice all the species of recent shells to 

 the Linnaean genera. 



(30.) We have now brought the series of Linnaean 

 writers to a close, with the exception of one, whose 

 laborious and voluminous work seemed necessary to 

 convince the strict adherents to this school, of the 

 absolute necessity of a reform in systematic arrange- 

 ment ; and that it was utterly impossible any longer to 

 delay those improvements which Linnaeus, by his own 

 example, had so forcibly inculcated. These truths 

 were forced upon the conviction of the most preju- 



* G. Paykull. Fauna Suecica, Insecta. Upsalias, 1798. 

 3 vols. 8vo. This date (for there is none on the titlepage) 

 is prefixed 1 to the end of the preface. M. Cuvier erroneously 

 gives 1800 as the year of its first publication. 



f J. H. Laspeyres. Sesia? Europaeae. Iconibus et De- 

 scriptionibus illustratae. Berolini, 1801. 4to. 



\ F. W. Dilhvyn. A Descriptive Catalogue of recent Shells, 

 arranged according to the Linnasan System. London, 1817. 

 2 vols. 8vo. 



