%t INSECTS IN GENERAL, ^t^ 



Lifia^us : There is, however, good reafon to apprehend, 

 that this enumeration does not contain above one half 

 even of the larger infe£ls that are diftin^tly obfervable by 

 the eye. Whether in a hot or cold climate, it is proba- 

 ble that the number of infeds in every country is great- 

 er than that of plants. In Sweden, there have been enume- 

 rated, and pretty accurately defcribed, about one thoufand 

 feven hundred infefts, while the number of plants, thougli 

 no where more accurately examined than in that kingdom, 

 do not exceed thirteen hundred. In the neighbourhood 

 of Paris, there have been difcovered by Geoffrey and 

 Reaunmr, upwards of one thoufand four hundred infefts, 

 ■while the plants of the fame diftricl, which have been 

 flill more accurately examined than the infe£ts, do not 

 nearly amount to that number. 



The BritiJJj infers have never yet been either fully 

 enumerated, or accurately defcribed. Dr. Berkenhoot, iu 

 his outlines of the natural hiflory of this ifland, has enu- 

 merated five hundred and feventy-tv/o different fpecies : 

 In all probability, a more complete inveftigation would 

 difcover three, or perhaps four times that number of 

 BritiJJj infefts. The nearer any country approaches to 

 the equator, the more numerous will be the infedls found 

 in it : Even in thefe northerly climes, however, there is 

 ilill much room left for entymological inveftigation. If, 

 in travelling over this ground, we cannot flatter the read- 

 er with much new matter, we can at leafl alTure him, 

 that he will not be led aftiay by theory, or deceived 

 by unauthenticated narrations. 



