PREFACE. 



xiii 



In the introductory letter several of the advan- 

 tages to be derived from the study of Entomology 

 are pointed out ; but there is one which, though it 

 could not well have been insisted upon in that place, 

 is too important to be passed over without notice, — 

 its value in the education of youth. 



All modern writers on this momentous subject 

 unite in recommending in this view Natural History; 

 and if the quality of accurate discrimination, the 

 ready perception of resemblances amongst diversities, 

 and still more, the quick and accurate perception of 

 diversity in the midst of resemblances, constitutes 

 one of the most important operations of the under- 

 standing ; if it be indeed the foundation of clear 

 ideas, and the acquisition of whatever can be truly 

 called knowledge depends most materially on the 

 possession of it;" if " the best logic be that which 

 teaches us to suspend our judgments ;" and " the 

 art of seeing, so useful, so universal, and yet so 

 uncommon, be one of the most valuable a man can 

 possess," there can be no doubt of the judiciousness 

 of their advice. Now of all the branches of Natural 

 History, Entomology is unquestionably the best fitted 

 for thus disciplining the mind of youth ; and simply 

 from, these circumstances, that its objects have life, 

 are gifted with surprising instincts admirably calcu- 

 lated to attract youthful attention, and are to be met 

 with every where. It is not meant to undervalue 

 the good effects of the study of Botany or Mineral- 

 ogy ; but it is self-evident that nothing inanimate can 

 excite such interest in the mind of a young person 

 as beings endowed with vitality, exercising their 

 powers and faculties in so singular a way ; which, as 

 Reaumur observes, are not only alive themselves. 



