PREFACE. 



xvii 



of one or other of the authors, but not always of 

 him, who, from local allusions, may be conceived the 

 writer of the letter in which they are introduced, as 

 the matter furnished by each to the letters of the 

 other must necessarily be given in the person of the 

 supposed writer. 



In acknowledging their obligations to their friends, 

 the first place is due to Stmon Wilkin, Esq. of 

 Costessey near Norwich, to whose liberality they are 

 indebted for the plates which illustrate and adorn 

 the work, which have been drawn and engraved at 

 his expense by Mr. John Curtis, whose intimate 

 acquaintance with the subject has enabled him to 

 give to the figures an accuracy which they could 

 not have received from one less conversant with the 

 science.* 



To Alexander MacLeay, Esq. they are under 

 particular obligations, for the warm interest he has 

 all along taken in the work, the judicious advice he 

 has on many occasions given, the free access in which 

 he has indulged the authors to his unrivalled cabinet 

 and well stored library, and the numerous other 

 attentions and accommodations by whicTi he has ma- 

 terially assisted them in its progress. 



To the other friends who have kindly aided them 

 in this undertaking in any way, they beg here to 

 offer their best thanks. 



* This refers to the year 1815, when the first volume of this 

 work was published. In the twenty-seven years since elapsed, 

 Mr. Curtis's Entomological labours, and especially his British En- 

 tomology in sixteen volumes, equally admirable for its scientific 

 and artistical excellence, have deservedly gained him a very high 

 reputation wherever the science is cultivated. 



VOL. I. 



a 



