3g 



hesitated awhile, it is true, and it was thought he would have 

 broken the line, but no, — he kept precisely to the track of 

 Linnaeus and the rest of them, through Papilio, Sphinx, Bom- 

 byx, Noctua, Geometra, Pyralis, Tortrix, and Tinea ; but, as he 

 stood pledged to traverse no more than five fields, he hit on the 

 ingenious expedient of asserting roundly, that the four last named 

 were but one. In fact, the whole of this immense class presents, 

 at this hour, nothing but a vast chaos, which seems to await the 

 operation of some predicted spell to call it into order. 



These were apparent difficulties only ; for, as no system existed 

 to direct, so none existed to encumber or perplex. Too much is 

 known now of Linnaean combinations, to assert, that he always 

 thought correctly ; and since his day no one has thought at all. 

 Now, if you cannot obtain a nicely drawn plan, you prefer having 

 a blank sheet of paper to one covered all over with scorings and 

 markings, and then you may set to work and make your plan 

 yourself. So, in natural history, contrariety of opinion perplexes, 

 while the absence of opinion leaves the systematist perfectly 

 unbiassed in the formation of his own. Again, copious and 

 well-named* collections of this favourite class are by no means 

 uncommon ;-|- and through, the liberality of my friends, I had 

 often been permitted to inspect them, and had gained a sufficient 

 superficial knowledge of their contents, to be enabled, with the 

 assistance of my own specimens, to cluster them pretty well into 

 seven great families or sub-classes ; and although, as I have 

 noticed, nothing available existed on the subject of arrangement 

 of Lepidoptera, either in essay, or treatise, or catalogue, or 

 cabinet, yet there was to be found, up and down, much valuable 

 matter, in the shape of what might be termed natural history of 

 Lepidoptera. Finally, I knew, that could I master this class, 

 I could stand my ground, because I had previously tried the 

 experiment on the classes Hymenoptera and Coleoptera, and had 

 found that, at the word seven, they fell into instant order, as at 

 the touch of a magician's wand ; and, as for the other classes, we 

 are in such innocent and blissful ignorance of their contents, that 

 were a scheme ever so futile, a century at least must elapse before 

 its futility could be proved by Orthoptera, Hemiptera, or Diptera. 



* I mean tacli species labelled with a name. •)- British collections. 



