582 APPENDIX. 



and looking over each other's descriptions. I think we should show foreigners 

 we are not so backward in this science as they imagine us to be. 

 " Farewell, and believe me to be, 



" Yours very truly, 



WM. KIRBT." 



The preceding letter was followed by another long one from Mr. 

 Kirby, dated November 15th, wholly occupied by a synopsis of the 

 families, and sections of his Monograph of the Stap/iylinidce, on which he 

 was then hard at work. My reply, dated Drypool, November 23rd, 

 1808, to these two and a former letter was chiefly filled by remarks on 

 this synopsis, and on his paper on Apion, in the Linnean " Transactions," 

 and by giving an outline of my proposed Monograph of the genus Clio- 

 leva : after which it proceeded as follows : 



" I will not here attempt to reply to the whole of the three valuable letters 



for which I am indebted to you since my last At present I must only 



advert to two of their topics, your hint relative to a co-partnership English 

 'Entomologia Britannica,' and your remarks on the Linnean cabinet. The 

 former scheme much pleased me, for, would you think it? the very same idea 

 some time ago glanced across my mind. I have nothing more at heart than 

 being able to contribute to the advance of our science in this country, and in 

 thinking on an English description of our insects, the only mode of effecting 

 this, the thought has struck me, ' could not my friend Kirby and I manage 

 such a work?' I dismissed the idea as a mere pleasing fancy j partly from the 

 reason you allude to, the fear that our friend's feelings might suffer, and 

 partly because 1 know you are at present otherwise engaged. But really, on 

 second thoughts, when confirmed by the similarity of yours, the plan does not 

 want feasibility. As Mr. Marsbam certainly cannot himself take any share in 

 an English work, he could not be sorry that others undertook it, and so far 

 from interfering with his Latin one, it would, indeed, greatly assist the sale. 

 On the whole, I am inclined to think your scheme well worthy of further con- 

 sideration, and I think we should not lose sight of it. I should, to be sure, be 

 but a sorry partner in the concern, but my knowledge of German might be of 

 some use, and greater dispatch might be made by two than one. My idea is, 

 that such a work should be published in numbers or parts, monthly or quar- 

 terly. We should thus have more time; purchasers would more easity be 

 found ; and from these, which would rather be the materials of a more perfect 

 work than a complete ' Entomologia Britannica,' eventually a regular work 

 might be fabricated. The greatest obstacle with me is the risk of its not pay- 

 ing itself. Having tasted the sweets of literary profit (I got my bookseller's 

 account a few weeks since: my six editions of 'Britain independent of Com- 

 merce,' leave about 230/. clear, the first of the ' Radical Cause of the present 

 Distresses of the West India Planters,' 30/.; the second of this last, and my 

 last pamphlets, are yet unsettled; my expense of advertising was about 80Z., 

 what a parenthesis ! pray don't hold your breath to the close of the sentence), 

 I should not like to lose by such an undertaking, though I should not care if it 

 only paid its way. But it is too bad to give one's labour, and lose money into 

 the bargain. I confess I am not so sanguine as you on this head. I fear we 

 could not expect a greater sale than Konig and Sims had for their ' Annals of 

 Botany,' which did not answer. And yet, surely 250 English entomologists 

 could be had for purchasers ; and if so, by charging a good price, I think it 

 might be made to pay, if published in parts. The best plan to ensure success 

 would be to have a respectable bookseller engaged with one. But to me there 

 appears a desideratum whose acquisition would greatly contribute to the sue- 



