566 INVESTIGATION OF INSECTS. 



will be requisite ; the more detailed description must be 

 read, and figures consulted, before its name can be in- 

 disputably determined. In addition to the difficulty 

 arising from the insufficient characters frequently given 

 by Fabricius and the older authors, obstacles arising 

 from their errors not seldom intervene. Thus they have 

 sometimes selected for a specific character, as in the case 

 of Megachile centuncularis^ Nomada riificornis^ and vari- 

 ous other insects, what really only indicates a. family. 

 At other times sexual characters common to many, as 

 in Eucera longicornis, Locusta perspicillata^ &c., have 

 been had recourse to. In these cases, in order satisfac- 

 torily to ascertain your species, you must further con- 

 sult the synonyms and habitat given by the original de- 

 scriber, especially the figures he has referred to. When 

 all these fail, as they sometimes will, the dernier resort 

 is a reference to the cabinet containing the original spe- 

 cimen from which the description was drawn. British 

 Entomologists possess an invaluable privilege, which 

 their continental brethren may well envy them, in having 

 the most liberal access, indulged to them by the learned 

 President of the Linnean Society, to Linne's collection 

 of insects, from which a large proportion of the species 

 he described may be ascertained 3 . Several of the cabi- 

 nets, especially the Banksian, now the property of the 

 Linnean Society, from which Fabricius described his 



a The continuance of this important privilege, by the lamented 

 death of the learned President, is now rendered uncertain ; but I 

 trust we may anticipate, that by the liberality of the members of the 

 Linnean Society, and if necessary of the public, this invaluable 

 treasure, by being fixed in the Metropolis, will be more than ever 

 accessible to the British Naturalist. 



