Xll 



PREFACE. 



which are unanswerable ; but the next instant the proofs are forgotten, 

 and the perverse association resumes its empire." , 



The Authors do not know that any curiosity will be excited to ascer- 

 tain what share has been contributed to the work by each of them ; but 

 if there should, it is a curiosity they must be excused from gratifying. 

 United in the bonds of a friendship, which, though they have to thank 

 Entomology for giving birth to it, is founded upon a more solid basis than 

 mere community of scientific pursuits, they wish that, whether blame or 

 praise is the fate of their labors, it may be jointly awarded. All that 

 they think necessary to state is, that the composition of each of the dif- 

 ferent departments of the work has been, as nearly as possible, divided 

 between them ; that though the letter, or series of letters, on any particu- 

 lar subject, has been usually undertaken by one, some of the facts and 

 illustrations have generally been supplied by the other, and there are a few 

 to which they have jointly contributed ; and that, throughout, the facts 

 for which no other authority is quoted, are to be considered as resting upon 

 that of one or other of the authors, but not always of him, who, from 

 local allusions, may be conceived the writer of the letter in which they 

 are introduced, as the matter furnished by each to the letters of the other 

 must necessarily be given in the person of the supposed writer. 



In acknowledging their obligations to their friends, the first place is due 

 to Simon Wilkin, Esq. of Costessey near Norwich, to whose liberality 

 they are indebted for the plates which Illustrate and adorn the work, 

 which have been drawn and engraved at his expense by Mr. John Curtis, 

 whose intimate acquaintance with the subject has enabled him to give to 

 the figures an accuracy which they could not have received from one less 

 conversant with the science.* 



To Alexander MacLeay, Esq. they are under particular obligations, 

 for the warm interest he has all along taken in the work, the judicious 

 advice he has on many occasions given, the free access in which he has 

 indulged the authors to his unrivaled cabinet and well stored library, and 

 the numerous other attentions and accommodations by which he has mate- 

 rially assisted them in its progress. 



To the other friends who have kindly aided them in this undertaking 

 in any way, they beg here to offer their best thanks. 



* This refers lo the year 1815, when the first volume of this work was published. In the 

 twenty-seven years since elapsed, Mr. Curlis's Entomological labors, and especially his 

 British Entomology in sixteen volumes, equally admirable for its scientific and arlistical 

 excellence, have deservedly gained him a very high reputation wherever the science is 

 cultivated. 



