24 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 



not one of the most important literary undertakings be the compilation of 

 more perfect dictionaries, and would not the humblest contributor to such 

 an end be deemed most meritoriously engaged ? Now precisely what an 

 accurate dictionary of a particular language is towards enabling the world 

 to participate in the discoveries published in that language, is a system of 

 Entomology towards enabling mankind to derive advantage from any 

 discoveries relative to insects. A good system of insects, containing all 

 the known species arranged in appropriate genera, families, orders, and 

 classes, is in fact a dictionary, putting it within our power to ascertain the 

 name of any given insect, and thus to learn what has been observed re- 

 specting its properties and history, as readily as we determine the meaning 

 of a new word in a lexicon. In order to impress upon you more for- 

 cibly the absolute need of such a system, I must enter into still further 

 detail. 



There is scarcely a country in which several thousand insects may not 

 be found. Now, without some scientific arrangement, how is the observer 

 of a new fact respecting anyone of them to point out to distant countries, 

 and to posterity, the particular insect he had m view ? Suppose an ob- 

 server in England were to find a certain beetle which he had demonstrated 

 to be a specific for consumption ; and that it was necessary that this 

 insect, which there was reason to believe was common in every part of 

 the world, should be administered in a recent state. Would he not be 

 anxious to proclaim the happy discovery to sufferers in all quarters of the 

 globe ? As his remedy would not admit of transportation, he would have 

 no other means than by describing it. Now the question is, whether, on 

 the supposition that no system of Entomology existed, he would be able to 

 do this, so as to be intelligible to a physician in North America, for in- 

 stance, eager to administer so precious a medicine to his expiring patient? 

 It would evidently be of no use to say that the specific was a beetle : there 

 are thousands of different beetles in North America. Nor would size or 

 colour be any better guide : there are hundreds of beetles of the same size 

 and the same colour. Even the plant on which it fed would be no suffi- 

 cient clue ; for many insects, resembling each other to an unpractised eye, 

 feed on the same plant, and the same insect in different countries feeds 

 upon different plants. His only resource, then, would be a coloured figure 

 and full description of it. But every entomologist knows that there exist 

 insects perfectly distinct, yet so nearly resembling each other, that no 

 engraving nor any language other than that strictly scientific can possibly 

 discriminate them. After all, therefore, the chances are that our disco- 

 verer's remedy, invaluable as it might be, must be confined to his own 

 immediate neighbourhood, or to those who came to receive personal 

 information from him. But with what ease is it made known when a 

 system of the science exists ! If the insect be already described, he has 

 but to mention its generic and trivial names, and by the aid of two words 

 alone, every entomologist, though in the most distant region whether a 

 Swede, a German, or a Frenchman whether a native of Europe, of Asia, 

 of America, or of Africa, knows instantly the very species that is meant, 

 andean that moment ascertain whether it be within his reach. If the 

 species be new and undescribed, it is only necessary to indicate the genus 

 to which it belongs, the species to which it is most nearly allied, and to 

 describe it in scientific terms, which may be done in few words, and it 

 can at once be recognised by every one acquainted with the science. 





