148 NOXIOUS INSECTS. 



is also passed over by late writers; and that is the 

 curvicauda of old Mouffet, mentioned by Derham in 

 his Physico -Theology, p. 250 : an insect worthy of 

 remark, for depositing its eggs, as it flies, in so dex- 

 terous a manner on the single hairs of the legs and 

 flanks of grass-horses. But, then, Derham is mistaken 

 when he advances that this oestrus is the parent of 

 that wonderful star-tailed maggot which he mentions 

 afterwards ; for more modern entomologists have 

 discovered that singular production to be derived 

 from the egg of the musca chameleon. See Geoffrey, 

 t. 17, f. 4. 



A full history of noxious insects, hurtful in the 

 field, garden, and house, suggesting all the known 

 and likely means of destroying them, would be al- 

 lowed by the public to be a most useful and important 

 work. What knowledge there is of this sort lies 

 scattered, and wants to be collected : great improve- 

 ments would soon follow of course. A knowledge 

 of the properties, economy, propagation, and, in 

 short, of the life and conversation, of these animals, 

 is a necessary step to lead us to some method of pre- 

 venting their depredations. 



As far as I am a judge, nothing would recommend 

 entomology more than some neat plates that should 

 well express the generic distinctions of insects accord- 

 ing to Linnaeus ; for, I am well assured, that many 

 people would study insects, could they set out with a 

 more adequate notion of those distinctions than can 

 be conveyed at first by words alone. 



