iy PREFACE. 



After saying thus much in general, it is scarcely necessary to add that 

 this work is designed to disseminate the information collected from various 

 periodicals in which it was lirst gathered, and from expensive books of the 

 day in which a large amount is almost inaccessibly stored up, but is not 

 expected to add much to the materials of knowledge already accumulated. 



We have been jxHirly supplied with the means of promoting the study of 

 entomology in this country, notwithstanding we have among us such men 

 as the Leco.vte's elder and younger, who both stand in the first rank of 

 entomologists ; but it is unfortunate that their classical works are mostly 

 confined to the libraries of the learned. 



I liave made the freest use of Dr. Harris's excellent and practical works ; 

 and have also been very much assisted by our distinguished entomologist, 

 Dr. Asa Fitch of Salem, Washington county, N. Y. 



I have occasion also to acknowledge a further indebtedness to Mr. Hal- 

 DEMAN of Columbia (Pennsylvania), who enjoys a European reputation as a 

 naturalist, for several valuable notes on various insects ; and could his as- 

 sistance have been still farther procured, the value of my work would un- 

 doubtedly have been greatly enhanced. 



I have figured such insects as I have seen, and know to belong to New- 

 York and New-England ; but I have not seen them in all their states, and 

 am therefore frequently indebted to others for the figures given of the larva 

 and pupa stages. Some are copied from Abbott & Smith's work on the in- 

 sects of Georgia, and some from other works of like kind. I have figured 

 Tery few foreign species, and these have had some special purpose in view. 



The figures have been drawn from specimens of the insects themselves, 

 by E. Emmons junior, and are faithful and accurate portraits of the indivi- 

 duals from which they were taken. It» is diflicult, however, to secure a 

 finished and uniform coloring, especially for so large an edition as three 

 thousand copies. 



I do not deem it necessary to point out the faults of this volume ; for the 

 keen-sighted, and those who are disposed to look after them, will find them 

 with little trouble. I am persuaded, however, that the general reader, as 

 well as the .student, will find in it many valuable records. E. EMMONS. 



Ai.BA.«JT, July 25, 1854. 



