2 INTEODUCTORY LETTER. 



will not subscribe to the peerless beauty and accomplishments 

 of his own Dulcinea. In such conflict for pre-eminence I 

 know no science that^ in this country, has come off worse 

 than Entomology : her champions hitherto have been so few, 

 and their efforts so unavailing, that all her rival sisters have 

 been exalted above her ; and I believe there is scarcely any 

 branch of ISTatural History that has had fewer British 

 admirers. While Botany boasts of her hosts, she, though 

 not her inferior either in beauty, symmetry, or grace, has 

 received the homage of a very slender train indeed. Since 

 therefore the merits of Entomology have been so little 

 acknowledged, you will not deem it invidious if I advocate 

 the cause of this distressed damsel, and endeavour to effect 

 her restoration to her just rights, privileges, and rank. 



Things that are universally obvious and easy of examin- 

 ation, as they are the first that fall under our notice, so are 

 they also most commonly those which we first feel an in- 

 clination 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 

 every where 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 devoted 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. 



