INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



behind any of her sisters in these respects ; and if you 

 are fond of novelty, and anxious to make new discove- 

 ries, she will open to you a more ample field for these 

 than either Botany or the higher branches of Zoology. 



A new vertebrate animal or plant is seldom to be met with 

 even by those who have leisure and opportunity for exten- 

 sive researches ; but if you collect insects, you will find, 

 however limited the manor upon which you can pursue 

 your game, that your efforts are often rewarded by the 

 capture of some non-descript or rarity at present not pos- 

 sessed by other entomologists, for I have seldom seen a 

 cabinet so meagre as not to possess some unique speci- 

 men. Nay, though you may have searched every spot 

 in your neighbourhood this year, turned over every stone, 

 shaken every bush or tree, and fished every pool, you 

 will not have exhausted its insect productions. Do the 

 same another and another, and new treasures will still 

 continue to enrich your cabinet. If you leave your own 

 vicinity for an entomological excursion, your prospects 

 of success are still further increased; and even if confined 

 in bad weather to your inn, the windows of your apart- 

 ment, as I have often experienced, will add to your stock. 

 If a sudden shower obliges you at any time to seek shel- 

 ter under a tree, your attention will be attracted, and the 

 tedium of your station relieved, where the botanist could 

 not hope to find even a new lichen or moss, by the ap- 

 pearance of several insects, driven there perhaps by the 

 same cause as yourself, that you have not observed be- 

 fore. Should you, as I trust you will, feel a desire to 

 attend to the manners and economy of insects, and be- 

 come ambitious of making discoveries in this part of en- 

 tomological science, I can assure you, from long experi- 



