A manual of entomology

Preface

Upon completing the Translation of this ( Manual,’ it is incumbent upon me to thank the press generally for the very favourable reception it has obtained throughout its progress. It was undertaken with the view to contribute to the advancement of the study of Entomology, by giving a wider circulation to its elementary principles ; and it is hoped that its interesting details will tend to diffuse a taste for its more general cultivation.

Amidst a multitude of original experiments and observations, in addition to its numerous other scientific claims, this work will be found to comprise, in its anatomical and physiological departments, a generalisation of the host of facts elicited by the laborious investigations of Straus Durckheim, Miiller, Suckow, Leon Dufour, Nitzsch, &c. &c., up to a very late period. It is confidently believed, that a book combining the researches of such eminent men must necessarily become extremely useful, not only to the entomological but also to the physiological student, and to the scientific man in general.

The advantages to be derived from the study of natural history are manifest. One of its most conspicuous merits, and that upon which the immortal Cuvier particularly dwelt, is its tendency to methodise the mind, by impressing it with a habit of

VI

PREFACE.

order and precision ; thus, having all the effect, but under a more alluring mask, of the abstract mathematics, and the logic of the schools. This character attaches more peculiarly to that portion of natural history upon which this work exclusively bears — namely, the study of insects. Their great multitude and diversity, their brilliancy of colour, eccentricity and extreme elegance of form, their metamorphoses, complexity of structure, and peculiarities of habits, always adapted to the purposes they have to accomplish in the economy of nature, altogether unite to give an intense interest to this delightful pursuit.

Having thus summarily shown the value of the work, and the utility and pleasure to be derived from the study of the science, it only remains for me to add my best thanks to Dr. Burmeister for the promptitude with which he spontaneously supplied me, upon hearing of my undertaking, with the new MS. of several portions wherein his opinions had become modified or changed.

THE TRANSLATOR.

Table Of Contents

PAGE

Introduction— Definition and Compass of Entomology, §§ ]— - 4 . . 1

FIRST DIVISION.