IV PREFACE. 



years, been given to the world by Straiiss-Durekheim, Leon Dufour, 

 Kirby, Audouin, Burmeister, Newport, and others. All that I dare 

 affirm of this volume is, that it will be found to contain a concise 

 introduction to the Elements of Entomology, brought dow^n to the 

 present state of the science ; in which, indeed, many interesting 

 details are necessarily omitted, which the student who is disposed 

 to enter more deeply into the subject must seek for in the works 

 of Kirby and Spence, Burmeister, and others. 



It has ever been my wish to instil into the minds of those who 

 feel an interest in the science, the idea that the mere collecting of spe- 

 cimens, or of attempting their classification, could not be compared, 

 in an intellectual point of view, or with reference to the amount 

 of pleasure derivable from the subject, with the investigation of 

 habits of the animals, and the variations in their structures depen- 

 dent thereon. To those conversant with Entomological Literature, 

 it was evident that there existed the want of a work like the pre- 

 sent, which should convey the modern elements of the science in 

 as popular a form as possible ; and it appeared to me, that this 

 work might be so written, as to be the means of extending this 

 leading principle of philosophical zoology. 



To make the present volume more acceptable to the general 

 reader, several plates of insects have been added, not contained in 

 the British Cyclopaedia, and which, together with the very numer- 

 ous wood illustrations, will render the subject more generally in- 

 telligible than though double the space had been devoted to mere 

 descriptions. These figures, together with those in the body of 

 the book, are from my own pencil, being in almost every instance 

 original. 



I have added, for facility of reference, an alphabetical index 

 of the anatomical parts, and an arranged list of the figures of in- 

 sects scattered through the body of the work. 



J. 0. W. 



Hammersmith, October, 1838. 



