of the Lepidoptera Diurna ofLatreille. 181 



barrassment. This, it is true, in progress of time may fre- 

 quently be overcome; but no sooner do we begin to make a lit- 

 tle progress, than other doubts arise, which can only be solved 

 by information which we again wait for. Thus months and 

 years pass away, and that knowledge which, if properly used, 

 might have advanced others one step nearer to the Temple of 

 Truth, is suffered to lie useless and unemployed. 



I have been led to these reflections, by having lately had 

 occasion to bring together all I can find hitherto written on 

 the Lepidoptera, and to revise what I had myself done on the 

 same subject, some years ago. In the \yinter of 1823 I at- 

 tentively studied these insects, with a view to discover their 

 naturaraffinities ; and I communicated the result to several of 

 my entomological friends in the following spring. 1 deferred 

 however the publication of these views, at the time, from a de- 

 sire of procuring further information upon several points, then 

 involved in obscurity. These have long since been cleared up ; 

 but other difficulties presented themselves ; and it is probable 

 that but for the necessity I am now under of introducing this 

 subject in a larger work, the essay of which the following is a 

 sketch would still have remained neglected. 



Before entering upon this subject, it may be as well for me 

 to express my firm conviction that the Almighty Author of the 

 universe has "created all things that have life upon one plan; 

 and " that this plan is founded on the principle of series of 

 affinities returning into themselves * ;" which can only be re- 

 presented by circles. This sublime discovery, sufficient of 

 itself to immortalize a name, was first made known to the world 

 by our illustrious countryman. It was soon after confirmed by 

 two other eminent philosophers f, unknown to each other, and 

 finally has been proved to demonstration. Yet the right ap- 

 plication of these principles to the race of beings now existing 

 upon our globe, is another consideration ; on which there is, 

 and always must be, great diversity of opinion. The temple 

 has been shaken, and in part destroyed ; and although a suf- 

 ficient portion remains to give us some faint idea of the ori- 

 ginal beauty and perfect harmony it once exhibited, the re- 

 storation of the fragments will long continue to engage the 

 speculations and inquiries of the beholder. One fact, liowever, 

 is certain. That where we find the series of any j^articular group 

 unbroken by sudden or abrupt transitions, it will always be 

 found to contain five others of an inferior description, two oi 

 which will exhibit a perfection superior to the other three. 

 And it is no less certain, that this law of Nature is most con- 



♦ MacLcay, Mora: Knlomolog. Part ii. p. 459. 



f MM. Fries and DccandoUc. See Linn. Trans, vol. xiv. p. (52. 



spicuous 



