OP BRITISH INSECTS. 35 



be placed in the Museum of the Natural History Society. Al- 

 though one of British insects has always been kept in view (of 

 course to include local species), several causes have prevented its 

 formation. One was the paucity of collectors, and another, the 

 principal one, was the. absence of proper receptacles in the Mu- 

 seum where insects could be placed with any reasonable hope of 

 their preservation. Both of those obstacles no longer exist. "We 

 have now a local Entomological Society, with a respectable list 

 of members, which under the able presidency of Mr. W. Maling, 

 is actively employed in collecting our native insects, devoting, 

 for the present, most of its attention to Lepidoptera, of which 

 some very good private collections have been formed. And, by 

 the liberality of the Natural History Society, the other obstacle 

 has been removed, and a series of most beautiful drawers provided 

 for the collection of British insects. In this some progress has 

 been made, and in thirteen of the drawers the Coleoptera (beetles) 

 purchased of the late Rev. R. Kirwood, with a few from other 

 sources, have been arranged, and form on the whole a respectable 

 collection; but still very many blank spaces remain for future 

 contributions. Names and spaces have been provided in three 

 drawers for Hemiptera (bugs), and in one drawer for Homoptera 

 (frog-hoppers). In these a sprinkling of the species has been 

 placed, and we may look forward hopefully to more complete 

 collections of them at no distant date. To the Lepidoptera (but- 

 terflies and moths) eighteen drawers have been appropriated. 

 The butterflies (thanks to Mr. Maling and other friends,) are 

 well represented, but the moths are sadly deficient in numbers, 

 a great many even of the larger common species being desiderata; 

 whilst the great bulk of small things are totally wanting. To 

 the latter I would most earnestly draw the attention of our col- 

 lectors. The habits and transformations of nearly all the large 

 species are well known, but there are many hundreds of the 

 small ones whose "life histories" are yet to be written. Now, 

 these small creatures are certainly the most interesting of their 

 class ; amongst them are found some of our most persistent and 

 destructive pests; they blight our fruit trees in spring, they 

 devour our stores of grain and seeds, they cat our clothes, our 



