confifts in a rage of m aking collections, in bringing together what
is beautiful or lingular, and ferves to amufe an empty curiofity,
little advantage is to be expeCted from their labours. The true
objeCl in thefe refearches ought to he, to obferve the manner in
which the infeCts live, what qualities they poifefs, how they are
transformed, and what influence they have upon the general
economy of nature. How much remains yet to be difcoyered in
thefe little animals, in whofe very fmallnefs nature ihows herfelf
ib great ? Some of their fenfes, as that of hearing and fmelling,
moreover the functions of the antennae, the form o f their eyes,
their love, their generation, their means of defence, and of providing
for their different w an ts; all thefe are things that are as
yet but very iroperfeClly known. It is among the infeCts that
we perceive the moil extraordinary deviations from the common
courfe of nature. Thus we find that the aphides bring forth eggs
and living young ones feveral times following, after only having
been once impregnated by the male. In the genus p halanx there
are fome of which the females are without wings, and never enjoy
the pleafure of flying except when they enjoy the embraces of
the male, th a t carries them into the air, as it were, to indulge the
rapture of love in the arms o f zephyrs. Who is ignorant of the
fagacity, induftry, and regularity of the bees ? Who would have
imagined that there are ihfeCts that re-produce their limbs, and
even their heads, when cut off? The curctdio antiodontalgicus,
which has the power o f allaying the tooth-ach ; the meloe. majalis,
ufeful in hydrophobia; the lytta vejicatoria, which draws bliflers;
the
the bomhyx, or filk-worm, and others, are infeCls for the utility
of which we are indebted to the obfervations of true entomo-
logifls.
There is ftill a wide field open for difcoveries of the like nature.
If, for inflance, it were afcertained which caterpillars are moil
injurious to the vegetation of young trees, our endeavours to de-
ilroy them might be direCted accordingly; Several are pernicious
to the grain ; thefe alfo might be pointed out and fuccefsfully
fubdued. On the other hand, the entomologifl might fhow new
advantages to be derived from fome infeCls that are as yet unknown.
The termes,, blatta, dermejles, tinea, may perhaps at fome
future period be looked upon with lefs apprehenfion and diflike
than thofe infeCls which are now efleemed perfedlly innocent;
and the hufbandman, by the exertions of the entomologifl, be
freed from the fear of feeing the fields th a t he cultivates with the
fweat of his brow, changed into barren and unfruitful ground.
T h e new fpecies of infeCls which have- been found in Lapland,
offer as yet no flriking difcoveries of practical benefit. The
firil flep always mufl be to know a thing before we can invefti-
gate its ufe, and in this we are greatly afiifted by a fcientific
method and claflification. Travellers have hitherto only been
able to fearch for and gather materials; they have made collections,
and given lifts and defcriptions: o f this kind will alfo be
found to be that which is prefented to the reader in this work.
To render it more interefting, the figures are added o f fuch infeCls
as have not yet obtained a place in any collection of prints. I
fhall