3544 Notices of New Books : 



des Fourmis,' and in the same year as the Monograph ; it possessed 

 a decided advantage over Kirby's, inasmuch as the numerous divisions 

 indicated by typographical signs by the latter, were raised into genera 

 and accompanied with elegant names by the former. In the techni- 

 cal accuracy of detail, and the profound judgment exhibited in found- 

 ing the divisions, the merits of the two philosophers are exactly alike. 

 Byron said, " I awoke one morning and found myself famous," or 

 words to that effect. The same was the case with Kirby. Up to the 

 publication of the ' Monograph,' although his biographer seems to re- 

 gard him as a hero, and a very Goliath in polemics, he was, in the 

 eyes of that little world who knew of his existence, an amiable and 

 commonplace country clergyman, addicted to pinning bees and pop- 

 ping Dytisci into wide-mouthed phials half filled with spirits of wine: 

 but the ' Monograph ' made him another man ; it brought him into 

 great and general repute ; he rose instantaneosly to the pinnacle of 

 entomological fame; not only did his friends at home — Sir James Ed- 

 ward Smith, Sir Thomas Cullum, Marsham the sonorous, MacLeay 

 the elder, and his other brother collectors — shower their congratula- 

 tions upon his head, but the savans of the Continent were prompt to 

 acknowledge his transcendant merits, — Walckenaer, Fabricius, Illiger, 

 Afzelius. We invite especial attention to the following letters, pre- 

 suming the reader to be perfectly familiar with the passage of the 

 ' Monograph ' of which Fabricius, in his most interesting communica- 

 tion, complains. 



Fabricius to Kirby : written in English. 



Dated March 28, 1803. 

 " You have declared war against me : I must take up the gauntlet, 

 and fight out the battle as good as possible. You may be sure, had 

 I not found real merit in your work, I would not have written these 

 lines. You attack me generally, you attack me specially, and of both 

 ways I say a few words. The general attack I deny entirely, and I 

 am sure, by cooler observation, you will find, and confess yourself, 

 that your attack is entirely erroneous, and without foundation. Are 

 you not a naturalist ? — and these I always found good-natured folk, 

 and honest. You object that I maliciously detract from the merits 

 of Linne. Impossible : there is not in Europe a man who more 

 knows and reveres the first naturalist than I do. I have lived two 

 whole years in his greatest intimacy, and that in the years of early 

 youth, of fancy, and enthusiasm. I have loved him as a father, in- 

 structor, friend, and in riper years I have admired his happy flight. 



