3518 Insects. 



London considered as an " entomological locality " may excite a 

 smile ; but I have no intention to allude to the insect pests popularly 

 known as "flats" and "sharps," which abound in every portion of the 

 metropolis from Whitechapel to Regent's Park : though, by the way, 

 it would be no slight boon to the Londoners if they could be taught 

 how to get rid of these companions. My purpose at present is to call 

 attention to the entomological museums of London, — more especially 

 those of the British Museum and the East India House, — with a view 

 of making them, if possible, more generally useful. A museum of 

 preserved insects bears the same kind of relation to Entomology that 

 books do to knowledge ; and though not to be put in the place of di- 

 rect observation of living specimens, any more than books should su- 

 persede individual thought, yet as an accumulation of the results of 

 investigation, and in a vast number of instances the dead specimen 

 being all that is known of a species, it is a highly important institu- 

 tion. The founders, and more particularly the upholders of these 

 collections, no doubt know, to some extent, their benefit to science ; 

 but are they so useful as they might be ? The student can easily 

 obtain access to them, but what endeavours are made to increase the 

 number of learners ? Without a previous knowledge of Entomology, 

 the view of such collections as these can be but little better than a 

 show. And when it is considered how few persons have this know- 

 ledge, simply, as I believe, in thousands of instances, because their 

 attention has never been called to the subject ; and further, how much 

 time and talent are wasted by our young men, — aye, and women too, 

 — it is surely worth the attempt to stir up our leading men to the im- 

 portance of making Entomology one of the means of carrying out a 

 principle, the soundness of which they generally recognize, — - the 

 amusement and instruction of the people in their leisure. Let our 

 schools supply the requisite preliminary instruction, and our youth 

 will acquire a taste for investigation into the nature and economy, not 

 only of insects, but of animals generally and plants, and consequently 

 have an occupation that would not only tend to withdraw them from 

 low and sensual pleasures, but render them capable of appreciating 

 and using the stores of materials contained in our Museums. Great 

 bodies are slow to move, and it is always heretical to apply a lever ; 

 but I would nevertheless beg to ask whether, even in the present un- 

 prepared state of the many, it would not be advisable to appoint a 

 Professor of Entomology at the British Museum, who should give 

 courses of lectures on the science, which lectures should be free to all ? 

 Such a measure would be particularly useful, and, I believe, attrac- 



