xvi 



PREFACE. 



other act than her fondness for collecting insects ; 

 and Ray had to appear at Exeter on the trial as a 

 witness of her sanity * ; yet nothing less than line 

 upon line can be expected to eradicate the deep- 

 rooted prejudices which prevail on this subject. 



Old impressions," as Reaumur has well observed, 

 " are with difficulty effaced. They are weakened, 

 they appear unjust even to those who feel them, at 

 the moment they are attacked by arguments which 

 are unanswerable ; but the next instant the proofs 

 are forgotten, and the perverse association resumes 

 its empire." 



The Authors do not know that any curiosity will 

 be excited to ascertain what share has been contri- 

 buted to the work by each of them ; but if there 

 should, it is a curiosity they must be excused from 

 gratifying. United in the bonds of a friendship, 

 which, though they have to thank Entomology for 

 giving birth to it, is founded upon a more solid basis 

 than mere community of scientific pursuits, they 

 wish that, whether blame or praise is the fate of their 

 labours, it may be jointly awarded. All that they 

 think necessary to state is, that the composition of 

 each of the different departments of the work has 

 been, as nearly as possible, divided between them ; 

 that though the letter, or series of letters, on any 

 particular subject, has been usually undertaken by 

 one, some of the facts and illustrations have generally 

 been supplied by the other, and there are a few to 

 which they have jointly contributed ; and that, 

 throughout, the facts for which no other authority 

 is quoted, are to be considered as resting upon that 



* See Harris's Anrelian under Papilio Cinxia. 



