INTRODUCTION. Xlll 



man of the country town ; the hardy husbandman in 

 his neat cottage; the mechanic whose head and hand 

 are busy; the gallant naval or military officer, the de- 

 fender of the land ; many of England's fairest daughters, 

 and many of her heartiest sons. These, be sure, will 

 ever continue to keep what they have already preserved 

 so long. 



I have avoided very minute descriptions of the insects, 

 being convinced that they often bewilder instead of 

 being good guides; for such are the almost endless vari- 

 eties of the various specimens themselves, that if they 

 be attended to in the account of one they will not 

 apply to another of the same kind, nay not even to 

 another of the same brood. My object has not been to 

 fill space, but to make things plain; "ut multum nil 

 moror" "brevis esse laboro" I have aimed at concise- 

 ness, and avoided prolixity. But I have used no 

 abbreviations, as I think it is perfectly clear that what 

 those who are fond of them profess to save in the way of 

 space, is, for the most part, far more than lost in the 

 trouble caused by actual or mental search and research 

 to ascertain or remember their meaning. Also, I have, 

 for the most part, taken no notice of the fact of an 

 insect having been more plentiful at any place at one 

 season or time than another, inasmuch as every Entomolo- 

 gist knows that such discrepancies are most easily to be 

 accounted for, and that the continuance of the relative 

 abundance or scarcity of the species is not to be looked 

 for or depended on, in consequence of diversity of season, 

 the alteration of the suitableness or unsuitableness of a 

 locality by agricultural improvement or otherwise, and 

 the difference in the way it is explored, either by a 

 greater number of insect-hunters, or by their greater 

 assiduity and attention, more close investigation, or more 



