324 O^ INSECTS IN GENERAL. 



ferlor note, have turned their attention to this interefting 

 part of natural hiftory ; and while they have endeavour- 

 ed to improve upon the arrangement of the Sivedijh na- 

 turalift without fuccefs, have neverthelefs added greatly 

 to the number of infefts. Among this number De Geer, 

 a SwediJJj nobleman, councellor to the king, may be 

 ranked in the firft ftation : He has publifhed a large trea- 

 tife upon this fubje£t, in which he has not only defcribed 

 a great number of infedls with accuracy, but has indul- 

 ged in philofophical remarks upon their hiftory, which 

 poffefs very confiderable merit. 



Befides thefe, a number of cntymologifls have appear- 

 ed, who have given moft elegant engravings of infe£ls ; 

 among which are, Roefelf Lexvenhoch, Baker, Barhut^ 

 Harris, and Dtiiry, Some of thefe have improved this 

 fcience by microfcopical obfervation : the laft has given 

 excellent drawings of the exotic infefts, while Harris 

 has applied himfelf fuccefsfully in delineating thofe of 

 Kiigland. 



After reviewing the numerous lift of authors who have 

 laboured in the fame field, we ftiould widely err, were 

 we to conclude that the fcience of entjmology had reach- 

 ed perfection, or that the whole of this clafs of beings 

 had been fully made known. The far greater part of 

 infects, as we have already hinted, from their extreme 

 ininutenefs, elude the obfervation of the naked eye : 

 many, it may be prfefumed, are not perceptible even by 

 the affiftance of the beft microfcope ; and of thefe fmall 

 animals, whofe bodies are fcarcely difcernible, how little 

 can we know of their organization, their food, their man- 

 ners, and their hiftory ? In the lateft edition of the fyftem 

 of nature, near three thoufapd infeds are enumerated by 



Linnceus ; 



