• 82 ? 
ENTOMOLOGY. 
in which many errors were corredled, and a new arrange¬ 
ment made out by that able naturalift, who has himfelf 
written a valuable treatife upon the intricate genus of fpi- 
ders. Some of thefeauthors, by ihe extent of theirlabours, 
and others by the boldnefs of their genius, had convinced 
mankind that the ancients were far from attaining that 
perfedt knowledge of nature which they had hitherto 
imagined. They were now fo far emboldened by the 
prog-refs they had made, that they trufted to their own 
judgment and obfervation in examining the works of na¬ 
ture; and many productions far more judicious, accurate, 
and philofophical, were oifered to the public, than had 
ever before appeared. Among the firft of thefe may be 
ranked that of our celebrated countryman, Mr. Ray, who 
had, for the greater part of his life, affiduoufly examined 
the economy of infedls. His Mdhodus Inferiorum was not 
publifiled till after his death in 1710, and was then the 
moft accurate and concile performance on the fubjedt of 
entomology. In the meanwhile, there appeared a nume¬ 
rous lift of authors who treated this clafs of the animal 
kingdom ; Albin deferibed the infedls of England, while 
fir Hans Sioane, Petiver, Catefby, and Frifch, have de¬ 
tailed the hiftory of vaft numbers of exotic animals of 
this tribe.—In this (late of the fcience, about the year 
1754, appeared M. de Reaumur, by far the moft laborious 
and indefatigable entomologift then in Europe. Almoft 
in every part of France this naturalift had correfpondents 
Rationed to tranfmit him deferiptions and fpecimens of 
every curious infedl that might occur. And in order to 
examine their inftindts, their transformations, and mode 
of generation, heinclofed vaft numbers of them in a large 
aviary, conftrudted with a clofe net, and fecured below 
with a pavement overlaid with green turf, and planted 
with ftirubs and different kinds of plants. It was there 
that this unwearied obferver of nature examined the man¬ 
ners and economy of thofe infedls, which he has deferibed 
in one of the moft voluminous works that has appeared 
on entomology. As a writer, he is extremely diffufe, 
but always entertaining and inftrudtive. The principal 
defedl in his work is the want of a fyftematic arrange¬ 
ment, and the fynonyma of other authors ; a precaution 
that was alone able to have prevented confufton in fo 
large a performance, and amid the vaft number of infects 
■which he has deferibed. Thefe defeats, however, were 
foon after remedied by the excellent claflilication of the 
illnftrious Swede, whofe fyftem will probably long con¬ 
tinue to be a ftandard to all thofe who (hall hereafter at¬ 
tempt to enlarge the boundaries of natural hiftory. 
Since 1715, when the Syftema Naturae was firft pub- 
lifbed by fir Charles Linnaeus, various improvements were 
ni3de on it by that author, who enjoyed the rare felicity, 
not only of feeing his works gain univerfal approbation, 
but of many opportunities of bringing them nearer to 
perfedtion. In the mean time Geoffroy, Scopoli, Wotton, 
Harvey, Valifnieri, and many others of confiderable note, 
turned their attention to this interefting part of natural 
hiftory ; and while they have endeavoured to improve 
upon the arrangement of the Swedifh naturalift without 
fuccefs, have neverthelefs added greatly to the known 
fpecies of infedls. Among this number De Geer, a Swe- 
di(h nobleman, counfellor to the king, may be ranked in 
the firft Ration : he has publiftied a large treatife upon 
this fubjedl, in which he has not only deferibed a great 
number of infedls with accuracy, but has indulged in 
philofophical remarks upon their hiftory, which poftefs 
very confiderable merit. For corredl claffification, how¬ 
ever, and an enumeration of all the fpecies of infedls at 
prefent known, Dr. Gmelin’s edition of Linnaeus, 1793 ; 
the Syftem cf Entomology, by Fabricius, 1795 ; and Dr. 
Turton’s tranflation of Gmelin, 1800, are by far the moft 
complete.'—Befides thefe, a number of entomologifts have 
appeared, who have given moft elegant engravings of in¬ 
fers ; among which are, Knorr, Roefel, Seba, Leeuwen¬ 
hoek, Fuefsly, Muller, Cramer, Pallas, Baker, Barbut, 
Harris, Wilkes, Latreiile, Paykull, Coquebert, Bofch, 
2 
Frifch, Clairville, Detigny, and particularly Drury. Some 
of thefe have improved this fcience by microscopical uu. 
fervation : the laft elegant improvement of which has been 
recently given by Kanmacher, in his new edition of Mr. 
Adams’s Hiftoryof Infedls, illuftrated by the miferofeo; e> 
Whether wrn turn our attention to a hot or a cold eft. 
mate, it is probable that the number of infedls in every 
country is greater than that of plants. In Sweden thcie 
have been enumerated, and pretty accurately deferibed, 
about one thoufand feven hundred infedls, while the num¬ 
ber of plants, though no where more accurately examined 
than in that kingdom, do not exceed thirteen hundred.— 
In the neighbourhood of Paris, there have been difeover- 
ed by Geoffroy and Reaumur, upwards of one thouland 
four hundred infedls, while the plants of the fame diftricl, 
which have been dill more accurately examined than the 
infedls, do not nearly amount to that number.—The Bri- 
tifh infedls have never yet been either fully enumerated, 
or accurately deferibed; although the plants of this ifiand 
have been pretty accurately afeertained, by the indefati¬ 
gable induftry of Dr. Withering. Dr. Berkenhout, in 
his outlines of the natural hiftory of this ifland, has enu¬ 
merated five hundred and feventy-two different fpecies. 
In all probability, a more complete inveftigation would 
difeover three, or perhaps four, times, that number of 
Britifh infedls. The nearer any country approaches to 
the equator, the more numerous will the infedl tribes be 
found. In thefe northerly climes, however, there is 
ftill much room left for entomological inveftigation and 
enquiry. 
The different operations which infedls are obferved to 
perform, oblige the naturalift to aferibe to them a certain 
degree of intelligence. Yet the various precedes through 
which they pafs are fo uniform, and that fucceftion of 
adtions which we fee them exhibit are fo little varied, 
that nature feems to have deftined them to adl a fubor- 
dinate part in the great republic of animals. If their 
hiftory fometimes represents them varying their proce¬ 
dure, and accommodating themfelves to circumftances, 
the fphere of their addrefs feems to be confined within 
narrow limits ; and it is feldom that they attradl our ad¬ 
miration by any unufual efforts of fagacity. The bee and 
the ant reprefent flriking inltances of afliduity in labour ; 
they have, however, but one fingle method of operating, 
and, withdrawn from that, can turn to no other. A bee 
taken out of the hive is totally helplefs and inadlive ; far 
from difplaying the fagacity of the dog, it feems incapable 
of giving the (mailed variation to its inftindls. In the 
purfuits of the latter animal, there appears fomething 
like choice ; in the labours of the former, the whole ap¬ 
pears like neceflity or compulfive inftindl. 
The amazing number of infedls is another argument of 
their inferiority in the fentient principle. It is a rule 
which obtains among the offspring of nature, that the 
nobler animals are fiowly produced, and that, in forming 
thefe, (lie adls with a dignified economy ; while, in her 
meaner births, (he is often lavifh to profusion ; and thou- 
fands of the more ignoble kinds are produced merely to 
fupply the neceffities of the more favoured and highly 
organized parts of her creatures. From thefe confidera- 
tions, we are induced to believe, that the degree of intel¬ 
ligence allotted to this clafs of the animal kingdom is but 
fmall; and our experience, as far as it goes, coincides with 
this opinion. While other animals are capable of fome 
degree of education, thefe have one invariable mode of 
operating, which no art can either alter or improve. The 
dog is taught to carry ; the bird to fing a tune ; but 
thofe infedls which may be confidered as completely do- 
mefticated, can by no invention be turned from their in¬ 
ftindl. The filkworm completes its labours, and the 
fpider conftrudts its web invariably in the fame manner* 
An exiftence which continues but a fingle fegfon, feems 
too (hort for the purpofes of inftrudtion, or of learning. 
Hence the infecls are not only of a rank inferior to the 
larger animals, but are more nearly allied to the vermes , 
tha» 
