50 MEMOIR OF GESNER. 



highly valued such an acquisition as the manu- 

 scripts and drawings of so distinguished a zoologist. 

 The use he made of them is well known. They 

 formed a portion of the work on insects published 

 in England in 1634, under the title of " Insec- 

 torum sive minimorum Animalium Theatrum olim 

 ab Edoardo "Wottono, Conrado Gesnero, Thomaque 

 Pennio, inchoatum; tandem Tho. Movfeti, Londi- 

 natis opera sumptibusque maxime concinnatum, 

 auctum, perfectum, et ad vivum expressis iconibus 

 supra quingentis illustratum." Schmiedel supposes 

 that it is chiefly the figures of butterflies that were 

 obtained from Gesner. These are, in most cases, 

 recognisable, but they cannot be compared to the 

 icons of plants. 



Although Gesner was unable to complete the 



then interested entomologists, the following extract from a let- 

 ter written by Penny to Camerarius is worth quotation. " Te 

 exoro, si quid ecrti de insectis sequentibus habeas, utme, cum 

 otium naetus fueris, certiorem per litteras facias: TivB-^n^oiv 

 Aristotelis quid sit lubenter scirem ; et an in nostris regionibus 

 reperiatur? 'Bo[/,(iov>.ios vero an sit Himilen Gemianorum intel- 

 ligerem? U^affoKov^U an sit species erucae, ut D. Gesnerus 

 arbitratur? T^u^aXXts an sit bestiola cauda bifurca, quem 

 Germani Orenmotel vocant, quamque ut arbitror, Hadr. Jujiius 

 in suo nomenclatore FuUonem Plinii non reete arbitratur. 

 Scias Auriculariam alas habere sub cingulo absconditas, ae 

 uliquaudo volare quod idem experientia didici. Arodit flores, 

 si quai alia, etc. Blattam fuetidam spero ctiam reperisse, Sca- 

 labseo pilulari similis est, sed corporc magis oblongo, nee tam 

 crasso ; caudam habct mucronatam, vel ut Plinius loquitur, 

 acutam. Nullas habet alas, tardigradum animalciUum et valde 

 faetens." 



