THE 



PREFACE 



TO 



FIEST EDITION, 1815. 



One principal cause of the little attention paid to 

 Entomology in this country has doubtless been the 

 ridicule so often thrown upon the science. The 

 botanist, sheltered now by the sanction of fashion, 

 as formerly by the prescriptive union of his study 

 with medicine, may dedicate his hours to mosses and 

 lichens without reproach ; but in the minds of most 

 men, the learned as well as the vulgar, the idea of 

 the trifling nature of his pursuit is so strongly asso- 

 ciated with that of the diminutive size of its objects, 

 that an Entomologist is synonymous with every thing 

 futile and childish. Now, when so many other roads 

 to fame and distinction are open, when a man has 

 merely to avow himself a botanist, a mineralogist, or 

 a chemist, a student of classical literature, or of 

 political economy, to insure attention and respect, 

 there are evidently no great attractions to lead him 

 to a science which, in nine companies out of ten 

 with which he may associate, promises to signalise 

 him only as an object of pity or contempt. Even if 

 he have no otiier aim than self-gratification, yet " the 

 sternest stoic of us all wishes at least for some one 

 to enter into his views and feelings, and confirm him 

 in the opinion which he entertains of himself:" but 



