PREFACE. Xlll 



corns may very properly be placed at the head of 

 the Coleoptera, from which there will be traced a 

 transition through the Hydradephaga, to the Ne- 

 crophaga, &c. &c. to the Geodephaga and other 

 classes. It may be objected by some persons, that 

 Insects are too minute for such investigations, and 

 that few will have the courage to undertake the 

 task of examination. To this objection I reply, 

 that much has already been done, and much more 

 may confidently be expected. If we look abroad, 

 and examine the writings of the Continental authors 

 on the Invertebrata, we shall find much to admire, 

 in the elaborate investigations of an Herold and a 

 Straus Durckheim, much to glean from the works 

 of a Treviranus, of a Chabrier, a Dufour, and an 

 Audouin. If we look at home, we cannot but ap- 

 preciate the labours of an Owen, a Grant, a New- 

 port, and a Rymer Jones ; and others, I trust, will 

 yet be found labouring for the same desired end, 

 the establishment of a uniform and more natural 

 system of Classification than we at present possess, 

 a system, perhaps, which Ave never can perfectly 

 realize, but which may certainly be very much in 

 advance of that which we now tolerate. 



Having above stated my opinions, it is now high 

 time to allude to the Families which will form 



