RISE OF ENTOMOLOGICAL SCIENCE. W 



them by Aristotle. This knowledge passed from the Greeks 

 to the Romans, and from them to the inhabitants of the 

 northern parts of Europe, by whom the Roman power was 

 broken down. Pass we, therefore, over a period of nineteen 

 centuries, and arrive at the second great entomological era, 

 when the revival of letters led to a corresponding revival of 

 the so long dormant sciences. Albert the Great devoted one 

 out of the twenty-two folio volumes, of which he was the 

 author, to Natural History, and in which he treated upon 

 insects, which he separated from the Crustacea. Half a 

 century afterwards (about 1550) the simultaneous appear- 

 ance of Gesner, Belon, and Rondelet, three of the fathers of 

 zoology, gave a great impulse to this branch of science. 

 Still, however, Entomology was much infected with the 

 radical vice of spontaneous generation; but the spirit of ob- 

 servation was abroad ; facts were collected, and both by the 

 assistance of figures engraved upon wood and of microscopic 

 glasses, much increase was made to the stock of knowledge. 

 Some naturalists even confined their researches to Entomo- 

 logy; and in 1602, Aldrovandus published a treatise upon 

 this science. In like manner, in the " Treatise of Insects," 

 (an extensive folio volume, being the joint labours of Wot- 

 ton, Gesner, Penny, and MoufFet, published in 1624, and 

 being remarkable as the earliest work which appeared in 

 England, expressly devoted to Entomology), a great variety 

 of figures of insects were given, which from their rarity have 

 been overlooked, or regarded by modern writers as entirely 

 novel. The work w r as divided into chapters, in each of which 

 some genus of insects was treated upon; the first seven 

 being devoted to the honey-bee. Still, however, there were 

 incongruously blended along with insects, all sorts of larvae 

 of other species belonging to the winged orders, and like- 

 wise many of the Linnaean class of genuine Vermes, and 

 even the Hippocampee. Moreover, in the works of this 



