THE ENTOMOLOGISTS 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 173.] 
KIRBY AND SPENCE. 
On the 3rd of July, 1850, a party of 
entomologists arrived, between nine and 
ten in the morning, at the Bull Inn, 
Birch Wood Corner, to have a pleasant 
day’s outing. Some had made their 
way thither across the country, some 
had come direct from town ; the Lon- 
doners, immediately after greeting their 
suburban friends, began talking of the 
latest news, and the morning papers of 
that day, bordered with black, were 
passed from baud to hand. Sir Robert 
Peel was dead. We mention this fact, 
as it will recall more vividly to the 
recollection of our readers the precise 
date to which we allude. 
On this occasion Mr. Spence had 
joined the excursion of the Entomo- 
logical Club to their usual rendezvous ; 
we believe it was his first and only 
attendance there. The day was not 
a very favourable one for the proper 
sport of entomologists, which may 
account for the various diversions to 
which recourse was had to pass the 
time, — diversions humorously charac- 
terised in epigrammatic fashion by a 
wit who was present. 
After the dinner, when the usual 
speechifying began, Mr. Spence’s health 
[Price Id. 
was duly drank “ with all the honours,” 
and Mr. Spence, in returning thanks, 
could not refrain from speaking of his 
ancient colleague, Mr, Kirby, of whom 
he had lately heard, but he was sorry 
to say that his health seemed failing. 
The following day, July 4tb, 1850, 
the Rev. William Kirby died, in the 
ninety-first year of his age. 
The subsequent publication of Mr. 
Freeman’s ‘ Life of Kirby,’ and the 
interesting contribution made to it by 
Mr. Spence, are no doubt fresh in the 
recollection of most of our readers. 
The idea of a joint authorship of 
the ‘ Introduction to Entomology ’ ori- 
ginated in 1808. Kirby had first pro- 
posed a joint descriptive work on 
Entomology, to which Spence sug- 
gested that it would be well to com- 
mence with a popular ‘ Introduction 
to Entomology.’ This idea was gra- 
dually elaborated much more fully 
than had at first been anticipated, 
and seven years elapsed before the 
first volume made its appearance, but 
from 1815 to the present time the 
names of “Kirby and Spence” have 
been inseparably united. 
In the year 1856 Mr. Spence brought 
out the marvellously cheap edition of 
the ‘Introduction to Entomology,’ and 
we believe that ten thousand copies of 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1 SCO 
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