﻿48 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society, 



m 



tion. Many species are superficially so very similar that 

 there is always a likelihood of some being overlooked ; 

 indeed, the proper determination of Myriapods is a matter 

 of no little difficulty, and a book on those to be found in this 

 country is greatly needed. 



INSECTA. 



In the Insecta we have to deal with an enormous class, 

 containing as it does more species than all our other groups 

 put together. Of the nine orders into which it is usually 

 divided, only the two popular ones — the Coleoptera (beetles) 

 and the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) — had up to a 

 few years ago received serious attention. The first published 

 list of insects from the district was, however, a general one. 

 It was drawn up by Charles Stewart, and communicated to 

 the Wernerian Natural History Society in 1809.^ Excluding 

 a few arachnids, crustaceans, and myriapods, it contains the 

 names of 369 species, of which 108 are Coleoptera, 97 Lepi- 

 doptera, and 66 Diptera (flies), the remaining 98 being dis- 

 tributed among the other orders. Passing over some scattered 

 records in the works of Leach and Stephens, we come to 

 (Eev.) James Duncan's valuable "Catalogue of Coleopterous 

 Insects found in the ^Neighbourhood of Edinburgh," submitted 

 to the Wernerian Society in 1831,^ in which 543 species — a 

 number of them on the authority of Sir Patrick Walker, 

 James Wilson (of Woodville), and other entomologists — are 



^ Memoirs, i. (1811) pp. 566-577. 



^ In this connection the following extract from the Scots MagaziTie for Oct. 

 1811 (p. 727) is interesting: — "The study of entomology, we are happy to 

 find, is now gaining ground, not only in the Scottish metropolis, but in 

 different parts of the country. Five or six keen naturalists have recently 

 entered on the pursuit, and laid the foundation of as many cabinets. The 

 excitement of a taste for this department of natural science, is in a great 

 measure to be ascribed to the temporary residence in Edinburgh, of a member 

 of the Linnean Society — W. E. Leach, Esq. — distinguished for his entomo- 

 logical knowledge, and as possessing one of the richest cabinets of British 

 insects. This gentleman has, in the most liberal manner, admitted all 

 cultivators of Scottish natural history in general, to inspect and consult his 

 extensive and admirable collection " (Neill). 



3 Memoirs, vi. (1832) pp. 443-538. At p. 580 it is mentioned that "this 

 communication gave much pleasure to the Society, as affording an earnest 

 of the revival of the study of entomology in this place, where it had been 

 much neglected for a good many years past." 



