Vlll PREFACE. 



establishing a Vivarium for the convenient obser- 

 vation of some of the wonders of the insect world, 

 I could not resist the temptation to say something 

 of Entomology as a science, instead of confining 

 myself, as is most usual in popular works on the 

 subject, to the mere narration of interesting or 

 entertaining facts. 



I have also endeavoured to avoid another com- 

 mon feature in works of this class. I allude to that 

 continual straining after the discovery of specially 

 providential arrangements in matters which do not 

 seem to require that kind of interpretation, and 

 in which the plainest evidences of design are fre- 

 quently distorted by volunteered explanations, the 

 shallow ingenuity of which, in the imperfect state 

 of our knowledge of the subject, often amounts to 

 something more than ridiculous. 



H. N. H. 



