xiv PREFACE. 



the fhape of the thighs, feet and claws ; 

 the flings peculiar to the hymenoptera 

 clafs, and the ufes they are applied to: 

 but the natural hiftory of infefts fhould 

 in a peculiar manner engage the travel- 

 ler's attention, as it is of more confequence 

 to difcover the natural hiftory of one 

 deftru&ive or ufeful infeft, than merely 

 to colleft and bring over twenty in their 

 perfect ftate ; the former, at the fame 

 time that it makes the fcience more en-? 

 tertaining, bids fair to benefit mankind, 

 while the latter ferves only to fill the 

 cabinets of the curious ; he fhould there- 

 fore carefully obferve the manner in which 

 infects copulate, and the places where 

 they depofit their eggs what food the 

 young larvae or caterpillars feed upon ; 

 if vegetable, whether it be the root, trunk, 

 leaf, flower or fruit; if deftruftive, as 

 they moftly are, the methods ufed by the 

 natives to deftroy them ; and if ufeful, the 

 means of cultivating them ; and what are 

 their natural enemies ; the form, atti- 

 tude and markings of the caterpillar, fhould 

 be defcribed ; if it has feet, their number, 

 and the particular rings on which they 

 are fituated - y whether it be fmooth, hairy 

 or fpinous, and the manner of its chang- 

 ing into the chryfalis or pupa ftate, and 

 how long it continues before it arrives to 

 perfeftion, with the various inftin&s and 



con- 



