52 MEMOIR OF DRURY. 



has had among the followers of Natural History 

 here in London, the numbers of whom, although 

 not equal to those found in many other countries, 

 are yet every day increasing, to such a degree as 

 could not have been anticipated a little time ago by 

 its most sanguine wellwishers. 



" That it may still increase and flourish, and that 

 you may live, with health, to see its study carried 

 to the furthest ends of the earth, is the hearty 

 wish of, 



" Sir, 

 " Your sincere Admirer, and 



" Most obedient humble Servant, 



" D. DRURY." 



In the Preface to his first volume, Mr. Drury 

 announced that the continuance of the work would 

 entirely depend on the reception the public should 

 be pleased to give to it. Being thoroughly satisfied 

 on that head, he immediately began to prepare a 

 second, and both the descriptions and engravings 

 were finished about the beginning of the year 1771 ; 

 but it was not published till 1773. In his own 

 opinion (as expressed in a letter to a friend in 

 Halifax) this volume was preferable to the first, 

 because containing a great many more uncommon 

 insects, all of them (as he then supposed) being 

 nondescripts. " I am only sorry," he adds, " I have 

 it not in my power to give the natural history of 

 every one of them ; how happy I should be to be 

 able to do that! but so long as distant countries 



