[ '3 f 



without which it would become life- 

 lefs, as we fhould be deprived of all 

 intercourfe with learned men. Among 

 former Entomologifts, there were fome 

 who defpifed all fyftem, or at leaft the 

 enumeration and defcription of the ih- 

 fects of particular countries ; and in- 

 fifted, that the metamorphofes of infecls 

 were folely to be attended to. But 

 certainly method conftitutes the life of 

 fcience ; and we fhould in vain ftudy 

 natural hiftory, without accurate de- 

 fciptions ; fuppofe, for inftance, the 

 figures of Reaumur, in his immortal 

 work, in which he illuftrated this fci- 

 cnce in a manner fuperior to all that 

 went before him, to be fo obfcure and 

 indeterminate as to convey no idea of 

 what he meant to communicate ; of 

 what ufe, I pray, would be his infinite 

 difcoveries ? But when the fpecific 

 name of any infect is determined, and 



the 



