LETTER II. 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 



IN my last I gave you a general view of the science of 

 Entomology, and endeavoured to prove to you that it 

 possesses attractions and beauty sufficient to reward any 

 student who may profess himself its votary. I am now 

 to consider it in a less alluring light, as a pursuit at- 

 tended by no small degree of obloquy, in consequence 

 of certain objections thought to be urged with great 

 force against it. To obviate these, and remove every 

 scruple from your mind, shall be the business of the 

 present letter. 



Two principal objections are usually alleged with great 

 confidence against the study and pursuit of insects. By 

 some they are derided as trifling and unimportant, and 

 deemed an egregious waste of time and talents; by others 

 they are reprobated as unfeeling and cruel, and as tend- 

 ing to harden the heart. 



I. I shall begin with the first of these objections 

 that the entomologist is a mere trifler. As for the silly 

 outcry and abuse of the ignorant vulgar, who are always 

 ready to laugh at what they do not understand, and be- 

 cause insects are minute objects conclude that the study 

 of them must be a childish pursuit, I shall not waste 

 words upon what 1 so cordially despise. But since even 

 learned men and philosophers, from a partial and pre- 



