m 



KIPPIS, ANDREW, D.D, FJUL 



KIUBY, REV. WILLIAM. 



i for the Timre,' 1 865. Mr. Kiogaley'a last publications are 

 'Glauena, or the Wooden of the Shore,' 1855 (an expansion of an 

 article on the study of natural history which appeared originally in 

 the < North HrilUh Ueview ') ; and ' The Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales ' 

 (an adaptation of >ome of tlie Greek myth* for Children). 1850. Mr. 

 Kingaley has contributed largely to ' Prater's Magazine ' and to th 

 4 North British Review,' and more recently to the eighth edition of 

 the ' Kncy i-lo|xlia Britannic*.' He has also delivered many lecture*, 

 some of which, in addition to those mentioned above, have been 

 published separately or as part* of collections of lectures. Altogether, 

 a* he is one of the most popular writers of the day (as is proved by 

 the tale of his writings), so he is certainly one of the most independent 

 and influential ; and being still young, much more is to be hoped from 

 his farther life. 



KIITIS, ANDREW, D.D., VMS, a Unitarian divine, held in great 

 estimation both among tlie members of his own communion and 

 generally in the world of literature and science, was born in 1725. He 

 was descended of ministers who had left the Church in 1662, on the 

 packing of the Act of Uniformity, and was educated in a theological 

 academy at Northampton, then under the superintendence of the pious 

 and learned Dr. Doddridge. After a few years spent in the exercise 

 of his ministry at Boston in Lincolnshire, and at Dorking in Surrey, 

 I >r. Kippis settled in London in 1753 as pastor of a congregation of 

 Presbyterian dissenters in Westminster, of which, before it adopted 

 Unitarian views, Dr. Edmund Cahtmy, a name of note among the 

 ilissniiUn had formerly been the minister. Dr. Kippis continued 

 connected with this society till his death. The duties arising out of 

 this connection did not preclude him from seeking other means of 

 public usefulness. In 1763 he became a tutor in an academy for the 

 education of dissenting ministers in London, on a plan similar to that 

 on which the academy at Northampton had been conducted. In 1771 

 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and in the next 

 year a Fellow of the Royal Society. 



Dr. Kippis was a principal contributor to the ' Monthly Review ' at 

 a time when it was considered *s the leading periodical work of the 

 day. He bad also much to do with the conduct of ' The New Annual 

 Register.' There are several pamphlets of his on the claims of tho 

 dissenters and on other topics of temporary interest ; but the work 

 with which his name is most honourably connected is the republication 

 of the ' Biographia Britannica,' with a large addition of new lives, and 

 a more extended account of many persons whose lives are in the former 

 edition of that work. The design was too vast to be accomplished by 

 any one person, however well assisted. Five large folio volumes were 

 printed of the work, and yet it bad proceeded no farther than to the 

 name of Fastolf. Part of a sixth volume, it is understood, was printed, 

 but it has not been given to the world. Many of the new lives were 

 written by Dr. Kippis himself, and particularly that of Captain Cook, 

 which was printed in a separate form also. 



Dr. Kippis's was a literary life of great industry. He was the 

 editor of the collected edition of the works of Dr. Nathaniel Lardner 

 [LAHDKEK, NATHANIEL!, to which he prefixed a life of that eminent 

 theological scho or. He published also the ethical and theological 

 lectures of his tutor, Dr. Doddridge, with a large collection of refer- 

 ences to anthora on the various topics to which they relate, in two 

 octavo volumes. A volume of his sermons was also published. 



KIRBY, THE REV. WILLIAM, one of the most distinguished 

 naturalists of his day, and celebrated for his knowledge of entomology. 

 He was the grandson of John Kirby. a miller at Wickham Market 

 in Suffolk, and the author of the ' Suffolk Traveller,' which was pub- 

 lished in 1785, and was a work of great repute in its day. Joshua 

 Kirby, a brother of the father of the subject of our present notioe, 

 was the friend of Gainsborough the artist, and distinguished as an 

 architectural draughtsman, and the author of a work on Perspective. 

 William Kirby, his father, was a solicitor, and lived at Witnesham 

 Hall, where the entomologist was born, on September 19th 1759. His 

 mother, whose name was Meadows, of a family of some consideration 

 in the county of Suffolk, early gave him a taste for the study of natural 

 history. A collection of sheik, and the plants of the fields, were the 

 first objects to which his attention was directed. His natural history 

 studies were however interrupted by his being sent to the grammar 

 school at Ipswich, where it appears he did not distinguish himself. 

 From thence he was entered at Caius College, Cambri L < . 1 1. re again 

 he failrd to distinguish himself, for Cambridge had at that time no 

 honours for those whose tastes led them to cultivate the natural 

 si ienoss He took bis degree of B.A. in 1781 ; and having entered 

 upon holy orders, was appointed shortly after to the care of Barbara, 

 hi his native county. In 1784 be married Miss Rtpley of Debonham. 

 At this Urn* he became acquainted with the Rev. Mr. Jones of Nay- 

 land, whose writings on controversial divinity were highly estimated. 

 Mr. Kirby bad however no toata for polemics, and although he never 

 negUcUd the duties of his office for the pursuit of natural history, his 

 taste for the Utter became so decided, that be published very little on 

 subjects directly connected, with his profession as a clergyman. 



Left to the natural bent of his genius, and surrounded with objects 

 of natural history, bis early love of plants was rekindled, and he cul- 

 tivated a knowledge of the plants of his neighbourhood. An accident 

 draw his attention to insect*. " About half a century since," ho says 

 In a letter to a Mend in 1835, "observing accidentally one morning a 



very beautiful golden bug creeping on the sill of my window, I took 

 it up to examine it, and finding that its wings were of a more yellow 

 hue than was common to my observation of these insects before,' I was 

 anxious carefully to examine any other of its peculiarities, and finding 

 that it had twenty-two beautiful clear black spots upon its back, my 

 captured animal was imprisoned in a bottle of gin, for the purpose, as 

 I supposed, of killing him. On the following morning, anxious to 

 pursue my observation, I took it again from the gin and laid it on the 

 window-sill to dry, thinking it dead, but the warmth of the sun very 

 soon revived it; and henoe commenced my farther pursuit of this 

 branch of natural history." These facts were communicated to Dr. 

 Qwyn of Ipswich, who was a good naturalist, and led him to recom- 

 mend to his young friend the pursuit of entomology. So diligent was 

 Kirby in the pursuit of his new science, that we find him warmly 

 taking up tho cause of natural history science, and becoming one of 

 the first members of the Linnman Society, founded by Sir James 

 Edward Smith hi 1788. In 1793 he contributed his first paper to the 

 Liunman Society. It was entitled ' A description of three new species 

 of Hirudo,' and was published in the second volume of the ' Transac- 

 tions.' His next paper, which was published in the third volume of 

 the same ' Transactions,' was ' A History of three species of Cusida.' 

 In the same volume is a ' Letter to Mr. Marsham, containing observa- 

 tions on the Insects that infested the Corn in the year !',..' II,- 

 became early olive to the importance of making the pursuit of ento- 

 mology of practical value, and paid particular attention to those insects 

 which attacked wheat and other plants of importance to man. The 

 last paper was followed by others on the ' Tiptila Tritici," on ' Insects 

 that prey upon Timber ;' and in the fifth volume of the ' Linnaean 

 Transactions' is a paper entitled 'Observations upon certain Fungi 

 which are parasites of the Wheat.' These and other papers indicate 

 great accuracy of observation, and prepared him for a work of higher 

 and more important scientific interest. The family of Jlymrnoptera, 

 including the bees and wasps, had been but imperfectly studied in this 

 country, and he devoted himself to tho production of a separate and 

 complete work on English Bees. This work wai published at Ipswich 

 in two volumes, with plates, in 1802, and was entitled ' Monographia 

 Apum Anglito, or an attempt to divide into the natural genera and 

 families such species of the Liunxan genus Apis as have been dis- 

 covered in England, with descriptions and observations.' This work 

 embraced also general remarks on the class I/ymtnnp/cra, and a table 

 of the nomenclature of the external ports of these insects. Tin- 

 publication of this work at onoe gave him a high position amongst the 

 naturalists of Europe, and brought him into correspondence with 

 Fabricius, Lotreille, and other naturalists on the continent of Europe, 

 as well as all the more eminent naturalists of his own country. This 

 work was followed up by several papers, containing important additions 

 to the literature of entomology, but was perhaps surpassed in scientific 

 interest by his discovery of the genus Styuipt, which he indicated ni 

 the type of a new order of insects, to which he garo the name Sfrfp- 

 riptera. These insects were found parasitical during their larva state 

 in the bodies of bees, and the novelty of their history and beautiful 

 forms excited a lively interest in the entomological world. 



But whilst these discoveries were going on, ho was preparing for a 

 work by which his name became more widely known and imperish- 

 ably associated with the popular literature of his country. We allude 

 to the ' Introduction to Entomology,' which he published conjointly 

 with Mr. Speuoe. Mr. Kirby's acquaintance with the latter gentleman 

 commenced in 1805, and resulted in Mr. Spence proposing in a letter 

 dated November 23, 1808, that they should write in partnership a 

 " popular Introduction to Entomology." This proposition was readily 

 acceded to by Mr. Kirby, and in 1816 the first volume of this work 

 appeared. It speedily went through three editions, and in 1817 the 

 second volume was published. On account of the illness of Mr. 

 Spence the third and fourth volumes did not appear till 1826. This 

 work at once took a position amongst the classical productions of our 

 language, and few scientific publications have been so extensively read. 

 Since the death of Mr. Kirby, Mr. Spence has published a seventh 

 edition, to which is added an appendix, giving an account of the 

 origin and history of the work. It is written in the form of letters, 

 and gives in a familiar style an account of the structure, habits, and 

 forms of insect.'. It is a model of the manner in which works on 

 natural history to be popular should be written, and if almost 

 exhaustive of the subject of tho habits, urns, injuries, and instinct* 

 of insects. Of the fifty-one letters of which this work consists, it 

 appears that twenty were written by Mr. Kirby, nine by Mr. .Spence, 

 and twenty-two by the two authors conjointly. 



In 1S30 Mr. Kirby was applied to by the trustees appointed under 

 the will of the late Karl of Bridgewater [lint DUEWATBK, EAIII. OF] to 

 write one of the works since so well known as the 'Bridgewater 

 Treatise*,' Although in the seventieth year of his age, the production 

 of such a work was so congenial to his tastes and the spirit in which 

 he had conducted all his natural history researches, that he at once 

 consented. The subject was the ' Habits and Instincts of Animals.' 

 From his previous history it would appear that Mr. Kirby hod not 

 had such extensive opportunities of studying the other groups of 

 animals so accurately as he had done insects. It is therefore, espe- 

 cially considering bis age, not surprising to nod that this work aid 

 not equal in merit his previous productions. It contains however ft 



