PREFACE. 
V. 
to the “ old hands/’ yet, if any one feels himself aggrieved 
in this matter, if he wishes it, I shall be happy to give him 
a copy of the second edition in exchange for his copy of the 
first. 
Several letters which I have received from new Corre¬ 
spondents concerning “The Annual/’ contain such useful 
suggestions, that a few extracts will not be out of place here. 
“ Your estimate of the number of Entomological workers 
is rather amusing, and I would suggest to you to try and 
gather materials for a paper on Entomological Statistics , 
as it would really be very interesting; and if you will only 
get some correspondent in every town to send you the names 
or numbers of all he knows devoted to studying or collecting 
in any division of Entomology, instead of your estimate of 
four hundred only, I am disposed to think it would be nearer 
a thousand. But then, I admit, many of these would be 
found in the humbler classes of society, and not book-buyers. 
As far as my experience goes, Entomologists, especially those 
( who amuse themselves with catching insects/ are far shyer 
in declaring themselves than Botanists and other Naturalists; 
and, if I must speak the truth, are too often more selfish , de¬ 
lighting to find anything very rare, but very chary indeed 
of divulging the secret to any one else. The majority too 
of collecting Entomologists are not of a literary turn , and 
this tends to prevent their being hnomn themselves , or know¬ 
ing what is going on in the literary world. Thus, I have 
frequently met with men who had stored up good boxes of 
insects, of their own collecting, but knew nothing of their 
classification—merely the common names,‘ Mother Shipton/ 
4 Wood White/ ‘ Skipper/ &c. &c., but had not a book on 
the subject. 
