xii : PREFACE. 
against speaking of the manners and economy of insects before 
entering upon the definition of them, and explaining the terms of 
the science,— a retrograde course, which they have chosen from 
their desire to present the most alluring side of the science first,— 
is, in great measure, if not wholly obviated. 
Such is the plan which the Authors chalked out for themselves; 
a plan which in the execution they have found so much more ex- 
tensive than they caleulated upon, that, could they have foreseen 
the piles of volumes through which it has entailed upon them the 
labour of wading, often to glean scarcely more than a single fact, 
the numerous anatomical and technological investigations which 
it has called for, and the long correspondence, almost as bulky as 
the entire work, unavoidably rendered necessary by the distant 
residence of the parties, they would have shrunk from an under- 
taking of which the profit, if by great chance there should be any, 
could not be expected to repay even the cost of books required in 
it, and from which any fame must necessarily be confined to a very 
limited circle. But having entered upon it, they have persevered : 
and if they succeed in their grand aim, that of making converts 
amongst their countrymen to a study equally calculated for pro- 
moting the glory of God and the delight and profit of man, they 
will not deem the labour of the leisure hours of six years ill be- 
stowed. 
And here it may be proper to observe, that one of their first and 
favourite objects has been to direct the attention of their readers 
“from nature up to nature's God.” For, when they reflected upon 
the fatal use which has too often been made of Natural History, 
and that from the very works and wonders of God some philoso- 
phists, by an unaccountable perversion of intellect, have attempted 
to derive arguments either against His being and providence, or 
against the religion revealed in the Holy Scriptures, they conceived 
they might render some service to the most important interests of 
mankind, by showing how every department of the science they 
recommend illustrates the great truths of religion, and proves that 
the doctrines of the Word of God, instead of being contradicted, 
are triumphantly confirmed by His Works. 
“To see all things in God,” has been accounted one of the peculiar 
privileges of a future state ; and in this present lite, “¢o see God in 
