4.44 HISTORY OF ENTOMOLOGY. 
fore that of Linné’s first outline of his Systema Nature 
before alluded to; but it may properly be regarded as be- 
longing to his era, since it did not disappear till some 
years after that had begun. A volume indeed would 
scarcely suffice to do justice to the preeminent merits of 
Reaumur, as exhibited in his admirable Memozres pour 
l Histoire des Insectes*: I must therefore content myself 
with observing, that in judgement and ingenuity in plan- 
ning his experiments; in patient assiduity in watching 
their progress; in the elegance of his language, and the 
felicity of his illustrations, he has rarely, if ever, been 
equalled. Every subject that he undertook was tho- 
roughly investigated, and in the true spirit of philoso- 
phical inquiry. Every where you see him the same un- 
prejudiced and profound observer, attached to no system, 
anxious only for truth and the advancement of science. 
If he has any fault, it is, perhaps, that of being some- 
times too prolix; but we must recollect that from the na- 
ture of his subject much diffuseness was often necessary 
to render his meaning clear. A greater objection is his 
total inattention to all system, except with regard to 
Lepidoptera and their larvee®, so that it is often difficult 
to ascertain the insects whose history he gives. But with 
these exceptions, no observer of nature, who wishes his 
discoveries to be at once profound and interesting, can 
copy a better model or one nearer to perfection. 
Next to that of Reaumur, the name of his admiring 
correspondent Bonnet may be mentioned. This great 
physiologist, though still more deficient in systematical 
knowledge‘, was also an admirable observer of the eco- 
nomy and manners of insects. In this sense he became 
* The first volume of this work was published in 1734, and the 
sixth and last in 1742. ° Reaum. i. Mem. vi. vii. and Mem. ii. 68—. 
© Smith’s Dour, iti. 150. 
