260 Anali/lkal Notices of Books. 



in Natural History, for it is solely from this very cause, that so 

 much confusion has arisen in every branch of Zoology. It is the 

 duty of him who attempts a Monograph on any genus, or family of 

 animals, to collect all the former descriptions, to compare such 

 with the individuals, to describe the new species, and to digest the 

 whole. We know the loss of time and the difficulty of the task ; but 

 it is of importance, if we would wish to render such a work useful 

 to the scientific; and it must be considered of importance, for the 

 nature of a Monograph, ought to be to determine and ascertain 

 the history of the individuals to a certain date, to do which we 

 consider that every cabinet ought to be examined. How far M. 

 de Fargeau has had this in view, is not in our power to say, but 

 we cannot help thinking, that his researches in this respect have 

 been limited, and his materials rather scanty ; for in very many in- 

 stances, his descriptions appear to have been taken solely from the 

 Avorks of Fabricius, Klug, Leach and Latreille : no one can have 

 a greater respect for those very justly celebrated Entomologists 

 than ourselves, and no one can find fault with their descriptions 

 in general ; but so few additional species, comparatively, occur in 

 the work before us, and so little light is thrown on their history, 

 that we cannot but remark, that our author would have done 

 well to have sought further. It is not the cabinets of Eng- 

 land, France or Germany, individually, that will ever aiFord the 

 materials for a perfect Monograph ; there are many very valuable 

 and very extensive collections in each country, and without a 

 thorough knowledge of the contents of each, every attempt must 

 be fruitless ; there are few Entomologists who have not observed, 

 in almost every cabinet, should it consist of provincial insects 

 alone, species that are new, or but imperfectly described : be- 

 sides this, how many are continually being received from the 

 Brazils, India, New Holland, &c. We do not wish by these 

 observations to throw the least obstacle in the way, or to depress 

 the ardour of the industrious Entomologist ; but in his movements 

 he must be cautious ere he presents the world with a feeble Essay, 

 and gives it a name of a Monograph. It is highly praiseworthy in 

 any one who will attempt to illustrate this very interesting branch 

 of Zoology ', but 111 our present limited knowledge of this subject, 



