£*rr 



St/ 

 ■ 6-7 

 S73 



INTRODUCTION. 



When the question respecting the copyright of my " Illustrations '' 

 was under discussion, I was strongly urged by my publishers to under- 

 take an abridgment of them, in order to guard against a recurrence 

 of the evil of which I then complained ; acting upon that recom- 

 mendation, I proceeded to some extent to abridge the above work ; 

 bu^ in consequence of resuming the publication thereof, I abandoned 

 my design, until it should be completed : circumstances wholly un- 

 controllable by me, however, unfortunately suspended its appearance. 

 I then gradually renewed my labours with regard to the abridgment, 

 until within these few months, when a work of a similar nature was 

 announced as being in course of preparation ; and, well knowing 

 that such an attempt could not be made without drawing largely 

 from my " Illustrations," I proceeded with greater rapidity with my 

 labours, made the requisite arrangements, and my intention of pub- 

 lishing was declared: — the present Volume is the primary conse- 

 quence ; and it is proposed to add three or four others, in which all 

 the hitherto discovered British Insects will be concisely described, so 

 far as my own collections and those of my friends will afford ma- 

 terials. The subject is, however, so vast, and the objects frequently 

 so minute, that numerous species will doubtless remain for the 

 present, if not for ever, undetected ; although I have been unremitting 

 in my endeavours, during the past thirty years, to render my col- 

 lections as complete as possible, and have amassed by far the largest 

 collection of indigenous insects that has ever been formed, consisting 

 of nearly 100,000 specimens in their various stages, as shown by 

 the following enumeration, taken during the last winter : — 



Coleoptera * 



Dermaptera 



Orthoptera 



Neuroptera 



Trichoptera 



Hymenoptera 



Strepsiptera 



Lepidoptera 



* Several apparent species are still unnoticed in this Manual. 

 a 2 



Species about 



Specimens No. Drawers. 



- 3,320 



26,109 compressed in 28 



7 

 59 



48 I 2 



326 S 



- 223 



1,066 7 



- 177 



620 3 



- 2,960 

 2 



«.'»} 



- 1,825 



14,477 56 



