PREFACE. IX 



The Second Book, entitled Collection and Preser- 

 vation of Insects, contains nothing worthy of comment ; 

 it will be useful to beginners, and thus the author's 

 only object in writing it will be attained. 



The Third Book, entitled Physiology or Anatomy of 

 Insects, is the record of the author's own observations : 

 he has given the names employed by other writers, when 

 he could understand to what parts they referred, but in 

 names alone has he availed himself of their labours ; 

 the facts, the descriptions, unless given as quotations, 

 are entirely his own. 



The Fourth Book, entitled Classification of Insects, 

 may be charged with being too original : it may be said 

 that the author should have given the views and ar- 

 rangements of others in preference to his own. He 

 would ask, whose system was he to select ? That his 

 own is the most simple and the most readily understood, 

 no one will deny : that it is more perfect, or more ac- 

 curate, or more philosophical, than any other, he does 

 not presume to contend. As for a disquisition on system 

 it would have been dangerous ground ; pleasurable 

 to the writer, but unprofitable to the reader : it would 

 have doubled the size of the volume without adding a 

 fraction to its value. 



