xiv 



PREFACE. 



but confer animation upon the leaves, fruits, and 

 flowers that they inhabit, which every walk offers to 

 view, and on which new observations may be made 

 without end. 



Besides these advantages, no study affords a fairer 

 opportunity of leading the young mind by a natural 

 and pleasing path to the great truths of Religion, 

 and of impressing it with the most liv^ely ideas of the 

 power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator. 



Not that it is recommended to make children col- 

 lectors of insects ; nor that young people, to the 

 neglect of more important duties and pursuits, should 

 generally become professed Entomologists ; but, if 

 the former be familiarised with their names, manners, 

 and economy, and the latter initiated into their clas- 

 sification, it will be an excellent method of strength- 

 ening their habits of observation, attention, and 

 memory, equal perhaps, in this respect, to any other 

 mental exercise ; and then, like Major Gyllenhal, 

 who studied Entomology under Thunberg about 

 177^5 after an interval of twenty years devoted 

 to the service of his country, resumed his favourite 

 pursuit with all the ardour of youth, and is at this 

 time giving to the world a description of the insects 

 of Sweden, invaluable for its accuracy and complete- 

 ness, they would be provided in their old age with 

 an object capable not merely of keeping off that 

 tcEdium vitcE so often inseparable from the relinquish- 

 ment of active life, but of supplying an unfailing 

 fund of innocent amusement, an incentive to exer- 

 cise, and, consequently, no mean degree of health 

 and enjoyment. 



Some, who, with an ingenious author *, regard as 



* Dr. Aikin. 



