INVESTIGATION. 129 



intended for Latin ; many words used are peculiar to Ento- 

 mology, and these the author will endeavour to explain 

 in the following pages ; other words are purely English, 

 with what is supposed to be a Latin termination added. 

 Examples of this : setaceous is latinized setaceus ; gross 

 is gross-us; expansion is expansio ; rudimental is rudi- 

 mentalis ; petiolate is petiolatus ; broicn is brunneus ; 

 grey is griseus ; bronze is bronzeus ; anterior is anterior. 

 Many Latin words are altered to make opposites ; margi- 

 natus signifies having a margin; and to describe an object 

 that has no margin, the word immarginatus is made; 

 words or names are often latinized by the simple addi- 

 tion of us or um. All these are to be considered errors ; 

 but we must bow in some degree to usage by adopting 

 errors. Still we should be careful not to enlarge the list; 

 and in describing, we must avoid obvious incongruities, 

 and not describe in Latin without some knowledge of 

 that language in its unadulterated state. Reading Latin 

 is a very different matter from writing it; and the author 

 has endeavoured so to explain the technical terms, that 

 the reader may understand almost any Latin description 

 he may meet with, by occasionally consulting a Latin dic- 

 tionary. 



Those who are desirous of obtaining a knowledge of 

 foreign insects will find great advantage from studying the 

 collection in the British Museum ; and it is with great plea- 

 sure the author bears witness, not only to the readiness of the 

 officers of that establishment to afford every facility to 

 those who are desirous of consulting the collections with a 

 scientific object, but to the rapid progress which is now 

 making in the Entomological department, of which he is 

 competent to form a more correct opinion than of either of 

 the others : this change is in great measure attributable to 

 the zeal, industry and ability of Mr. Adam White, a junior 



