602 APPENDIX. 



were chiefly spent in seeing the lions of Hull and the neighbourhood, 

 and in visiting the many friends eager to pay their respects to him. We 

 did little in insect collecting ; but I had the great satisfaction of seeing 

 him fish out with his own hands and secure a specimen of the then rare 

 Donacia (Macroplea) Zosterte, from the pond on the banks of the Hum- 

 ber, a quarter of a mile from my house, where I first took it, and the 

 source for a considerable period of the first British specimens, 



He then returned home by York, Newark, Huntingdon, and Cam- 

 bridge. From his letter of May 30, announcing his arrival at Barham, 

 with a full account of his journey, a few passages may be extracted : 



" I arrived safe at Barham on Saturday night, and found my dear Mrs. K., 

 though far from so well as I wished and expected, yet better than she had been 

 the beginning of last week. ... I had a pleasant though a very cold ride to 

 York, especially upon the wolds. I saw Mrs. Sandwith and her sons at Beverley, 

 and I took particular notice of your native village, Bishop Burton, paid due 

 respect to your old Elm, and assure you, without flattery, that I think it 

 altogether the prettiest spot I saw in Yorkshire. We arrived at York about 

 twelve, and after putting on clean linen, I marched to your friend Mr. H.'s, 

 who received me very civilly. . . . He would not be satisfied without my en- 

 gaging to dine with him, and then dismissed me, under the care of Mr. William 

 H., to survey the Minster. I was much struck with this noble building, which 

 exceeds everything of the kind I have ever seen ; but I need not describe it to 

 you. I then returned to dinner, and was sorry to find Mr. H. had decanted a 

 bottle of fourteen-years old port for me, of which I could not partake. [Mr. 

 Kirby at this time found his digestion improved by abstaining from wine.] 

 After dinner he took me under his own care to show me the other York 

 lions. . . ." 



In the remainder of the letter he adverts to the mode of burning lime 

 at Brotherton ; the very long and narrow canal barges he saw near Ret- 

 ford ; the gypsum pits near Newark ; and to Southwell Minster, of which 

 he describes the peculiar style of architecture, and sends a message 

 respecting it to John Crosse, Esq., of Hull, the eminent antiquary, with 

 whom we had breakfasted. 



At length, in the spring of 1815, the first edition of 750 copies of 

 Volume I. of our book appeared, just in time to allow me to take one 

 with me to show to our entomological friends on the Continent, where I 

 made a four months' tour after the battle of Waterloo. A second edition 

 was called for the next year, and a third in 1817, when also was published 

 Volume II., of which a second edition was required in 1818, and a third 

 in 1822. 



A sad interruption of our joint labours took place in 1818, in conse- 

 quence of my ill-health, caused by severe head-aches, gradually increasing, 

 until at last they were excited by the slightest effort of attention in reading 

 or writing. After struggling against them a year or more, and trying 

 various remedies recommended by my medical advisers, I was obliged 

 to give in, and, adopting Dr. Baillie's prescription of being " for several 

 years an idle man," to lock up my books and cabinets ; to put in order 

 and send to my coadjutor, whose grief and disappointment were equal 

 to my own *, my large pile of unfinished MSS. for my share of the work; 



* A letter from Mr. Kirby, dated Jan. 18, 1819, with an account of some expe- 

 riments with acids, &c., on the exterior crust of insects, concludes thus : " You 



