188 REAUMUR. 



were published between 1734 and 1742. This work 

 occupied many years, and was the result of numerous 

 observations made principally in his own garden, 

 where he kept insects of all kinds, for the purpose of 

 examining their habits, changes, and generation. It 

 is, however, incomplete, — the locusts and grashop- 

 pers, as well as the whole tribe of coleoptera, hav- 

 ing been intended for subsequent volumes^ which 

 never appeared. 



In regard to these Memoires, he remarks, that 

 although he has endeavoured to give them some de- 

 gree of connexion, they might for the most part be 

 considered as independent of each other ; and that 

 his object was not to present a systematic description 

 of insects, but to furnish materials for the use of 

 future naturalists. It is therefore improper to say, 

 that he wrote his work with an entire contempt 

 of method ; and certainly the notices which he col- 

 lected must have required more time and talent 

 than the mere arrangement of insects according to 

 characters derived from their external form. " The 

 number of observations necessary for a tolerably 

 complete history of so many minute animals," he 

 says, '^ is prodigious. When one reflects on all 

 that an accomplished botanist ought to know, it 

 is enough to frighten him. His memory is loaded 

 with the names of twelve or thirteen thousand plants, 

 and he is expected to be able to recall on occasion 

 the image of any one of them. There is perhaps 

 none of these plants that has not insects peculiar to 

 itself; and some trees, such as the oak, give sus- 

 tenance to several hundreds of different species. 

 And, after all, how many are there that do not live 



