28 INTRODUCTION. 



adopt ; and the agriculturist, on the other hand, ignorant of 

 the nature of insects, has pursued the very plan which has 

 been the most congenial to the habits of the insects which he 

 wished to destroy ; as in the case of the French gardener, 

 mentioned by Reaumur, who, thinking to destroy the cater- 

 pillars of the cabbage-moth, buried them just at the time 

 when they were themselves on the point of going into the 

 earth to change to chrysalides. 



Such being the claims which the objects of the entomolo- 

 gist's study possess upon his attention, I next proceed to state 

 the most efficient modes of research, whereby, also, the most 

 satisfactory and pleasing return may be obtained for the toils 

 of investigation, premising, that all animals destitute of in- 

 ternal vertebrffi, having articulated bodies and articulated 

 legs in the perfect state, are here regarded as insects. 



Entomologists, like the objects of their research, may be 

 classified. First, there is the amateur, whose sole object is 

 the procuring, either by capture or by pm-chase, of a collec- 

 tion of handsome insects, either to be placed in drawers, 

 without any other arrangement than that of beauty of colour 

 or size, or in glazed })icture-frames, to be hung up in his 

 room. This, it is true, is the lowest class of entomologists ; 

 but the labours of such amateurs are not without pleasure to 

 themselves, and are sometimes serviceable to the science of 

 Entomology. The delightful sensations with which the pent- 

 up entomologist inhales the breeze upon Shooter's Hill or 

 Wimbledon Common, when on the way to those well-known 

 entomological spots, Darenth and Coombe Woods, are real 

 enjoyments. The best practical collector whom I have 

 ever heard of is Daniel Bydder, a Spitalfields labourer, by 

 whom some of the most interesting of our English insects 

 were first discovered. And, in like manner, Joseph Standish, 

 a Brixton cobbler, from a pure love of entomology, taught 

 himself to draw and paint insects ; and having followed up this; 



