54 
REVIEWS. 
to those who make necessary application to business an excuse for doing 
and caring for nothing else, and are often, in consequence, devoured by 
ennui when any circumstance interferes wifh their routine of life, and at 
the same time are too ignorant of pleasures yet untasted to have any relish 
for them. For the edification of such worthies, Mr. Douglas exhibits, in a kind 
of literary magic lantern, or series of dissolving views, a few scenes from 
the insect world, vividly, racily, enthusiastically, as they deserve, but with 
no great attempt at order or arrangement. Those who are or think them¬ 
selves to be too busy, too dignified, too careless, or too silly to take any 
interest in the world of insects, are all in turn assailed, tempted, coaxed, 
warned, or otherwise worked on. Occasionally, we fear, he falls into a mood 
rather too technical for a large proportion of his readers from these classes. 
Such portions he must expect them to clear at a leap, learning of the fleas 
to whom he early introduces them ; but the greater part is very readable, 
even by the most impatient of the scientific and the dry. We have said 
that Mr. Douglas has not greatly affected arrangement ; a little less irre¬ 
gularity might have done no harm. For example, an outline of the gene¬ 
rally received metamorphotic classification is a very good and laudable 
thing; but when, some pages forward, we find the author u hoping” the 
terms species, variety, genus, &c., are understood, and fearing that they 
may not be, 11 trying to explain,” we involuntarily ask ourselves how much 
wiser these readers are supposed to be for the previous classification, with 
its sesquipedalian nomenclature and distinctive characters. What could 
they make of the oracular information that the classification under the 
heads of complete and incomplete metamorphoses is not very accurate ? 
unless they partake of the interpretative genius claimed by a poor old man 
whom we knew a few years ago, who, when asked what he made of the 
Greek quotations in a book of old sermons of which he had become pos¬ 
sessed, answered, that “ indeed they were main grand words, but when 
he looked hard at them he always fancied that he knew what they meant.” 
Some method, however, Mr. Douglas has, and not a bad one, for his parti¬ 
cular object; he classifies not the insects, but their world — u The House,” 
“ The Garden,” “ The Fields,” “ The Woods,” and so on, not omitting 
11 The Sea-shore,” each habitat monopolising a chapter, within which limi¬ 
tation he follows, in other respects, pretty much the fancy of the moment. 
The design of the other book is very different and more circumscribed, 
being confined to Lepidoptera, and practical hints relating to their localities, 
the mode of discovery, capture, rearing, and the like. To the uninitiated 
it would be in the main unintelligible and uninteresting; to the young 
Lepidopterist, possessed of a fair share of book knowledge, but small 
