Stephens, in 1852, lie acquired the very extensive library formed 

 by that entomologist, and built an annexe to his house for its recep- 

 tion, and this formed the nucleus of the rich collection of entomo- 

 logical works of which he ultimately became possessed. 



Stain ton's forte undoubtedly lay in the direction of working out 

 the life histories of the minute Insects he studied. When in early 

 life other occupations gave him but little of an ordinary working 

 day to devote to his studies, he got over the difficulty by rising at 

 five o'clock in the morning, and this habit (which was partly inhe- 

 rited) he continued down to the beginning of his fatal illness. The 

 minute size and the concealed habits of the majority of the objects 

 of his study rendered the greatest patience necessary for the dis- 

 covery of their modes of life, and the peculiar condition of his eye- 

 sight (before alluded to) no doubt aided him, for by the unaided eye 

 he was able to detect what to most others was invisible without a 

 lens, and it was probably owing to this cause that during the whole 

 of his life he was never able to use the compound microscope, but 

 contented himself with a pocket glass of comparatively low power. 

 His principal separate works are, ' An Attempt at a Systematic 

 Catalogue of the British Tineidse and Pterophoridse,' 1849, with 

 Supplement in 1851 ; the volume on " Tineina " in the ' Insecta 

 Britannica ' series, 1854, which from a strictly scientific point of view 

 is usually regarded as his best ; ' A Manual of British Butterflies and 

 Moths,' 2 vols., 1857 and 1859, which is still the most concise treatise 

 on the subject ; ' The Natural History of the TineinaD,' in 13 vols., 

 1855-73, with the assistance of his old friend Mr. J. W. Douglas, 

 and of Professor Zeller, of Glogau (afterwards Stettin), and Pro- 

 fessor Frey, of Zurich, an ambitious work in four languages, each 

 volume delineating and describing the life histories of a large number 

 of species, and for which a host of still unpublished material had 

 been accumulated ; several local faunae, such as the * Tineina of 

 Southern Europe ' (in connexion with which he passed each spring 

 for many years upon the Riviera) ; ' Tineina of Syria and Asia 

 Minor'; and ' Tineina of North America' (the latter edited by him). 

 He also published many papers in the Transactions of Societies and 

 in Journals, and in connexion with entomological journalistic litera- 

 ture Stainton became most prominent. In 1856 he established the 

 ' Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer,' published at one penny (!), an 

 attempt to popularise the study in this country, with, at the same 

 time, a view to induce mere collectors to look at the subject from a 

 more serious point of view. If not always successful, he, through 

 the medium of this journal, was the means of bringing forward many 

 young men who afterwards became prominent workers. The ' Intel- 

 ligencer ' went through ten volumes, and was discontinued in 1861., 

 The ' Entomologist's Annual ' was commenced in 1855 and continued 



