Account of Mr. John Banister^ 135 



Mr. Banister's knowledge in natural history was by 

 no means confined to the study of plants. He appears 

 to have been an excellent entomologist. He meditated 

 the publication of a work on the natural history of Vir- 

 ginia, for which Mr. Ray (one of the most competent 

 judges) says he was every way qualified. But he did 

 not live to publish the work, and it is somewhat doubt- 

 ful whether he ever wrote any considerable part of it. 



So far as I know, the following is a complete list of 

 all Mr. Banister's publications, th^ Catalogue excepted. 

 They appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the 

 Royal Society. 



1. A Catalogue of several Curiosities found in Virginia. 

 No. 198. p. 667. 



2. Observations on the Musca Lupus of Mouffet, in 

 Virginia. No. 198. p. 670. — These observations re- 

 late to the balancers or poisers (called, by the scien- 

 tific entomologists of the present time, HalteresJ^ that 

 are fixed under the wings of the insects of the Linnean 

 order of Diptera. 



3. On several Sorts of Snails observed in Virginia. H. 

 p. 672. 



4. A Description of the Pistolochia, or Serpentaria Vir- 

 giniana, the Snake-root of the , shops. No. 247. p. 

 467. — The j)lant here spoken of is the Aristolochia 

 Serpentaria oi' Linn^us, well known in the United- 



