2 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 
those which we first feel an inclination to study; while, on the contrary, 
things that must be sought for in order to be seen, and which when 
-sought for avoid the approach and inquiring eye of man, are often the 
last to which he directs his attention. The vegetable kingdom stands in 
the former predicament. Flora, with a liberal hand, has scattered 
around us her charming productions ; they everywhere meet and allure 
us, enchanting us by their beauty, regaling us by their fragrance, and 
interesting us as much by their subservience to our luxuries and comfort, 
as to the necessary support and well-being of our life. Beasts, birds, and 
fishes, also, in some one or other of these respects, attract our notice ; 
but insects, unfortunate insects, are so far from attracting us, that we are 
accustomed to abhor them from our childhood. The first knowledge 
that we get of them is as tormentors ; they are usually pointed out to us 
by those about us, as ugly, filthy, and noxious creatures ; and the whole 
insect world, butterflies perhaps and some few others excepted, are de- 
voted by one universal ban to proscription and execration, as fit only to 
be trodden under our feet and crushed; so that often, before we can 
persuade ourselves to study them, we have to remove from our minds 
prejudices deeply rooted and of long standing. 
Another principal reason which has contributed to keep Entomology 
in the background arises from the diminutive size of the objects of which 
it treats. Being amongst the most minute of nature’s productions, they 
do not so readily catch the eye of the observer ; and when they do, man- 
kind in general are so apt to estimate the worth and importance of things 
by their bulk, that because we usually measure them by the duodecimals 
of an inch instead of by the foot or by the yard, insects are deemed too 
insignificant parts of the creation, and of too little consequence to its 
general welfare, to render them worthy of any serious attention or study, 
What small foundation there is for such prejudices and misconceptions, I 
shall endeavour to show in the course of our future correspondence ; my 
object now, as the champion and advocate of Entomology, is to point out 
to you her comparative advantages, and to remove the veil which has 
hitherto concealed those attractions, and that grace and beauty, which 
entitle her to equal admiration at least with her sister branches of Natural 
History. 
In estimating the comparative value of the study of any department in 
this branch of science, we ought to contrast it with others, as to the rank 
its objects hold in the scale of being; the amusement and instruction 
which the student may derive from it; and its utility to society at large. 
With respect to public utility, the study of each of the three kingdoms 
may perhaps be allowed to stand upon nearly an equal footing ; I shall 
not, therefore, enter upon that subject till I come to consider the question 
Cui bono? and to point out the uses of Entomology, but confine myself 
now to the two first of these circumstances. ; 
As to rank, 1 must claim for the entomologist some degree of pre- 
cedence before the mineralogist and the botanist. The mineral kingdom, 
whose objects are neither organised nor sentient, stands certainly at the 
foot of the scale. Next above this is the vegetable, whose lovely tribes, 
though not endued with sensation, are organised. In the last and highest 
place ranks the animal world, consisting of beings that are both organised 
and sentient. To this scale of precedence, the great modern luminary of 
Natural History, notwithstanding that Botany was always his favourite 
