TRICHOPTERA. 



Notes on British Trichoptera. 



By R. M'Lachlax, F.L.S. 



Perhaps the greatest charm in the study of Entomology 

 consists in the fact that it has no limits. We can never 

 contemplate our collections and books, and say, " We are 

 acquainted with all they can teach us ; the work is finished; 

 we will now, in a measure, forget our previous labours, and 

 commence something fresh." Even he who collects for the 

 mere purpose of amassing is never subject to the sensation 

 that he has nothing:; more to do; for though the labour be 

 more severe, still every fresh acquisition brings increased 

 jjleasure in proportion to the difficulty experienced in ob- 

 taining it. And when these considerations are applied by 

 the more advanced student, they increase in force tenfold. 

 New facts in systematic and faunistic Entomology, new dis- 

 coveries in points of structure, new observations on habit, 

 all tend to prove that the amount of knowledge already pos- 

 sessed, however great that may fondly appear to the pos- 

 sessor, is but one drop in the ocean that exists around. I 

 will apply these remarks to myself and the branch of 

 Entomology which I have made my favourite study for some 

 years past. About two years since I finished my " Iri- 

 choptera Britannicaj" and therein embodied all I knew at 

 that time. But in these two years many points have been 

 elucidated 3 additions have been made to our fauna, and 

 1868. B 



