PREFACE
' O F
THE EDITOR.
I n the rapid advancement which the feience of Natural Hiftory has
experienced within a few years, the fyftematic ftudy of Infers has
receivid an ample lhare of cultivation. Botanifts the mo4 expert in
the principles'uf fcientific arrangement, have turned thofe principles to
advantage in the other departments of Nature; for while the compre-
henfive and penetrating mind of Linnaeus- conceived and digefted the
plan of his PHlsfophia Botanica, his labours tended to no lefs than
the methodizing of all natural knowledge. The principles of that
immortal work appear throughout his zoological labours ; and they
have, been particularly applied: to the Infeft tribe by his pupil, the
celebrated Fabricius, whofe Philofophia Entomologica has formed a
new epoch in the fcience it is calculated to teach. While he mar-
fhalled his new-found fquadrons under the banners of his-. great preceptor,
the riches of Nature flowed in on every fide upon the fcholar,
as they had formerly done upon the master, feeming to have been in
each inftance referred for a favourite obferver.
But although the: fyftematic arrangement of infedts has of late been
prodigioufly advanced, the philofophical ftudy of their economy does
not appear to have been equally cultivated.. The fplendid works of
Clerck, Cramer, and Olivier, and the more exquifite one of Drury, do
indeed difplay the complete infedt in a degree of perfedtion that leaves