2 NATURE'S CABINET. 



of gems) which has been labelled " Entomology." Of these 

 there are an abundance, gilded keys of popular, as well as iron 

 keys of scientific manufacture, but the still prevailing want is an 

 incitement to place them in the lock. The works of Kirby and 

 Spence, Rennie and Jardine, Burmeister and Westwood, may 

 be said to furnish, pre-eminently, the gilded, or, with reference 

 to their intrinsic worth, the golden keys in question ; but seeing 

 how generally even these are left to tarnish on the shelf, some- 

 thing would seem to be required as an incentive to their more 

 frequent handling. 



The most prevalent feeling about Insects, except, perhaps, 

 the " busy people" of the hive or the " painted populace" of 

 the garden, is that of indifference, if not distaste ; and who of 

 the multitude thus ignorantly prepossessed, would seek for 

 books strictly devoted to their history, or believe that they 

 could find interest in the mere relation of their instincts, how- 

 ever pleasantly detailed ? 



The first anxiety of a writer is, as all the world knows, to 

 establish a kindly sympathy between himself and his readers ; 

 but how can this be speedily created betwixt one who, as an 

 Entomologist, would seem to think of nothing but Insects, and 

 " the many" who have always regarded them as below a passing 

 thought? With even a slight knowledge, once acquired, of 

 their wondrous ways, the latter will be induced to a confession 

 that these " Minims of Creation" are something, even in them- 

 selves; but it may be well, meanwhile, for him who would 

 bring them into general notice, to invest them with the charm 

 of adventitious interest and reflected consequence. Insects are 

 peculiarly capable of being thus treated ; for in their analogies 

 and correspondences, illustrative and emblematic, innumerable 

 are their relations with other things, from the most trifling 

 objects of the world we live in, up to the highest subjects of 

 human contemplation. Multiplied then, and still multiplying, 

 as are books on Entomology, we venture to think there is yet 

 scope and use for one of a character more discursive, a book 



