INTRODUCTION. 



Diptera 



Homaloptera 



Aphaniptera 



Aptera 



Hemiptera 



Homoptera 



Ametabola 

 Crust cea 

 Arachnoida 

 Aeari 

 Myriapoda 



Metamorphoses about 



Species about 



- 2,450 



10 

 14 



- 154 



- 346 



- 351 



Specimens No. Drawers. 



' ' > compressed in 20 



26 



360 



2,720 



1,984 



11,898 

 94 



80,452 

 260 



151 



"> 457 



1,470 



21 



12,449 



82,182 

 6,000 



173 

 £0 



Total 12,449 



88,182 



193 



In this collection are Included, in fine condition, the original speci- 

 mens described in the " Coleoptera Britannica " of Marsham, and 

 also by far the greater portion of those subsequently named or mo- 

 nographed by Kirby, Leach, &c, throughout the different orders, 

 as well as of all the obscure species described by Haworth in (i Le- 

 pidoptera Britannica," and many of the rarer ones figured by 

 Donovan : to which may be added a copious selection, regardless of 

 cost, from Francillon's and other collections, exclusively of those above 

 alluded to, and of entire collections privately purchased, that have 

 been disposed of at various periods during the past twenty-five years. 



With such ample resources, therefore, I indulge a hope that they 

 will enable me to give a more complete synopsis of the British spe- 

 cies of insects than can possibly be effected by any other individual 

 at the present time, except by infringing upon my labours. Though 

 immense as the above statement appears, it may be perceived by the 

 following pages that above 150 truly indigenous species of Coleop- 

 terous insects (or Beetles} are still desiderated by me ; of which a 

 corrected list is inserted at the termination of this Introduction. 



Referring more immediately to the present work, the object of 

 which is io render a knowledge of the delightful science of Ento- 

 mology more general'y accessible, by enabling the student (at a 

 reasonable cost) to obtain the names of his insects, and thereby to 

 register more conveniently any facts that he may observe with re- 

 spect to their econoruy, &c, than when in ignorance of them ; and, 

 regard being had, at the same time, to portability, the descriptions 

 are drawn up as concisely as appears compatible with the great 

 extent of the subject ; all minor points being necessarily left to be 

 obtained from the original works, as referred to under each individual 

 species; and as a means of rendering the present series of volumes 



