THE SUBSTITUTE. 
35 
in which he has no interest, be- 
cause the objects of it are of small 
mac:nitude. A man who can find 
no better reason to justify his con- 
tempt for the study of insects, 
must have so much more conceit 
than decent sense, that the dignity 
of argument would be offended, 
and its purpose perverted by an 
attempt to convince him that he 
judges foolishly. 
A prejudice, however, does 
exist in the minds of some intelli- 
gent men against the study of in- 
sects, because they identify the 
the entomologist with the col- 
lector, an error we need not take 
the trouble to expose. But there 
are other objectors who, if they 
were honest to themselves, would 
find that their assumed contempt 
is in fact a dissatisfaction arising 
from ignorance, and a conscious- 
ness that there is much to be ob- 
served w'hich they never saw, and 
discoveries to be made for which 
they have neither the aptitude nor 
the preliminary information. To 
other persons insects are unplea- 
sant or repulsive objects unless 
tliey present themselves in delicate 
forms and court-dresses. By such 
I fastidious peoj)le the little crea- 
Itures always and everywhere 
about them, are supposed to have 
: no mission in the world but to annoy 
and irritate them, or to exercise 
•some insatiable malign power over 
:man and vertebrated animals de- 
structive to their comfort and in- 
jurious to their health. But if 
i this were true, it should be a mo- 
tive to the study of their pro- 
duction and habits. Personal in- 
iterest and benevolence should 
unite to encourage an examina- 
: tion of the physical structure and 
1 modes of life of such insidious 
enemies. But that which is most 
common and the most formidable 
objection to the study of Entomo- 
logy is the necessity of an ac- 
quaintance with a systematic 
classification embracing 400,000 
living forms. This objection, or 
rather impediment, to the sttidy, 
is more fancied than real ; but it 
is no part of our purpose to ex- 
plain or defend the modern system 
of classification, or to show how, 
by a few divisional lines, each in- 
dividual of this vast multitude of 
varied forms may be assigned to 
its own family and tribe. This, 
however, is the use of clas.sifica- 
tion, while it encourages and 
strengthens the faculty of observa- 
tion, and directs the mind of the 
student to those resemblances 
which are characteristic of family 
alliance, — those differences which 
distinguish races. 
[To be continued.] 
NEW BOOKS. 
List of British CuuculionidjR, 
WHTH Synonyma. By John 
Walton, F.L.S., &c. London, 
1856. Printed by order of the 
Trustees of the British Mu- 
seum. 
There is not a Coleopterist in 
the kingdom but will be pleased to 
hear that the long-expected List 
of Rhyncophora. has at length ap- 
peared : there is not one Coleop- 
terist but will be disappointed with 
it. The ability of Mr. Walton for 
the task of revising the nomen- 
clature of this difficult section, for- 
tified as he has been by corres- 
pondence with the great German 
entomologists who have made it 
their peculiar study, is on all 
hands admitted, but he has failed 
