430 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



they are retained in their places until they are dry 

 enough to be placed in the cabinet. Caterpillars are 

 kept in boxes with gauze sides, and fed with leaves 

 of the peculiar plants upon which they are found, 

 until they 'assume the chrysalis state; and in this 

 manner moths and butterflies are procured with their 

 plumage much more beautiful than when captured at 

 large. Insects which may have become still' before 

 they have been displayed, are readily relaxed by 

 placing them upon damp sand for a few hours. It is 

 necessary that the store boxes, or cabinets, contain- 

 ing insects should be kept in a dry situation, other- 

 wise the specimens soon become mouldy. It is not 

 advisable to place them against an outside wall of an 

 apartment ; moreover, it is necessary that camphor 

 should be kept in little cells in the drawers to prevent 

 the attacks of mites or other insects, such as the 

 Anthrcni. (See DEUMESTIDA;.) 



These hints will suffice for the practical collector 

 and the professed amateur ; for the more systematic 

 entomologist, who is not content with merely collect- 

 ing insects, but who is intent in classing 1 his collec- 

 tions, arranging each in its proper place and under its 

 proper name, and describing such as are nondescript, 

 another plan of study is requisite. Of the nature of the 

 pursuits of this class of entomologists, Messrs. Kirby 

 and Spence, having previously spoken of them as pos- 

 sessing an agreeable and unfailing provision of that 

 "grand panacea for the tedium vita; " employment, 

 make the following observations, " with what view 

 is the study of the mathematics so generally recom- 

 mended? Not certainly for any practical purpose, 

 not to make the bulk of those who attend to them 

 astronomers or engineers, but simply to exercise and 

 strengthen their intellect, to give the mind a habit 

 of attention and investigation. Now for all these 

 purposes, if I do not go so far as to assert that the 

 mere ascertaining of the names of insects is equal to 

 the study of mathematics, I have no hesitation in 

 affirming that it is nearly as effectual, and, with 

 respect to giving a habit of minute attention, superior." 

 Examples are then given of the necessity for minute 

 discrimination in the examination of insects for the 

 purpose of discovering the proper name of each and 

 the descriptions to be given of it, if it should hap- 

 pen to be undescribed : but there is still another 

 advantage to be gained from this kind of investigation. 

 We will assert that no one who has studied the clas- 

 sification of insects, commencif.g with the class and 

 going regularly through the order?, sections, families, 

 genera,down to individual species, and neatly arranged 

 his insects in his cases, can leave the subject without 

 having gained certain principles of regularity and 

 ordr, which will communicate themselves to his 

 every-day employment, inducing a methodical correct- 

 ness and precision in the details of life, which are so 

 superior to the careless proceedings of the thought- 

 less and irregular. 



By the student, therefore, who would attempt the 

 classification of his collection, it is requisite that a 

 progressive series of inquiries should be made. It is 

 not tit that he should commence by the investigation 

 of isolated species, his collection must be in the first 

 instance generalised, since it is only by studying- 

 groups of insects in the mass that we can ever acquire 

 any general views of the science. If this be not done 

 we shall be constantly falling into the error of separat- 

 ing intimately allied groups, because their external 

 appearance is different, and of uniting insects which, 



from the difference of their organisation, are widely 

 apart, because their appearance is similar. Let us 

 take any every-day example of the want of this 

 generalised view of insects ; there is an extensive 

 group of two-winged flies which are called drones, 

 they are the very personifications of luxurious idle- 

 ness, they do nothing but sip the nectar from the 

 brightest flowers, and enjoy the sunshine basking upon 

 the leaves of plants ; and there is an extensive group 

 of bees, having the same general appearance, but 

 being in habits the very reverse of the drones ; toiling 

 all day long, either in the construction of the nest or 

 in provisioning it with pollen paste. Now by ignorant 

 persons the same name is given to both groups of 

 insects, and not the slightest idea is entertained of 

 the totally opposite nature of their habits. 



A, Drone-fly (Eristalis*) . B, Spring |Wild-bee (Anthophora 

 rchisn}. 



We are the more anxious to impress upon our 

 readers the necessity for obtaining a generalised view 

 of insects, and indeed of the entire productions of 

 nature, because we know that many of our fellow 

 labourers fritter away their talents and time in the 

 sole elucidation of the characters of obscure species 

 of insects, without a thought of the higher views which 

 lay open before them. " English naturalists," says 

 Mr. 13'ichcno, " appear to me, from various causes, to 

 have pursued the nomenclature and examination of 

 species in such a way as very much to exclude from 

 their attention the lugher ends of science, in which 

 alone the bulk of mankind is interested. Ever since 

 the subject has* been pursued in the spirit of true 

 philosophy, it has almost solely been con lined to the 

 analytic form which, however important, is apt to 

 degenerate into unprofitable detail, as the synthetic 

 mode leads oftentimes to the other extreme of loose 

 and impracticable generalisation. "The necessity of 

 knowing particulars has made our researches into 

 species very minute, and has given to our operations 

 in the eyes of the multitude rather a puerile cast. 

 The method by which the name of an unknown 

 species and all that has beon written about it. can be 

 discovered necessarily involves such minute discrimi- 

 nation, that it cannot escape this superficial objection. 

 It is however an inconvenience not incident to our 

 subject alone, but to all the sciences more or less which 

 require a minute examination of particulars," And 

 he concludes by observing, " I am anxious not to be 

 misunderstood ; I do not want to disengage naturalists 

 from attention to the analysis of species, or to absolve 

 them from the labour of minute investigation which, 

 after all, is our chief business ; but I do wish to see 

 them following nature through all her varieties with 

 a view to generalise as well as particularise ; to 

 relieve the memory from the overwhelming multitude 

 of names which the discovery of new species has 

 imposed ; and to compress the result into a size 

 adapted to the human capacity. This may safely be 

 pronounced to be among the highest efforts of a 

 created intelligence." 



