Glanville's will was attempted to be set aside on the ground of lunacy, evinced by no other act than her fondness for collecting insects, and Ray had to appear at Exeter on the trial as a witness of her sanity*, yet nothing less than line upon line can be expected to eradicate the deep-rooted prejudices which prevail on this subject. "Old impressions," as Reaumur has well observed, "are with difficulty effaced. They are weakened, they appear unjust even to those who feel them, at the moment they are attacked by arguments which are unanswerable; but the next instant the proofs are forgotten, and the perverse association resumes its empire."

The authors do not know that any curiosity will be excited to ascertain what share has been contributed to the work by each of them; but if there should, it is a curiosity they must be excused from gratifying. United in the bonds of a friendship, which, though they have to thank Entomology for giving birth to it, is founded upon a more solid basis than mere community of scientific pursuits, they wish that, whether blame or praise is the fate of their labours, it may be jointly awarded. All that they think necessary to state is, that the composition of each of the dif

* See Harris's Aurelian under Papilio Cinxia.

ferent departments of the work has been, as nearly as possible, divided between them;-that though the letter, or series of letters, on any particular subject, has been usually undertaken by one, some of the facts and illustrations have generally been supplied by the other, and there are a few to which they have jointly contributed ;and that, throughout, the facts for which no other authority is quoted, are to be considered as resting upon that of one or other of the authors, but not always of him, who, from local allusions, may be conceived the writer of the letter in which they are introduced, as the matter furnished by each to the letters of the other must necessarily be given in the person of the supposed writer.

In acknowledging their obligations to their friends, the first place is due to SIMON WILKIN, Esq. of Costessey near Norwich, to whose liberality they are indebted for the numerous plates which illustrate and adorn the work; the whole of which have been drawn and engraved by his artist Mr. JOHN CURTIS, whose intimate acquaintance with the subject has enabled him to give to the figures an accuracy which they could not have received from one less conversant with the science. Nor is the reader less under obligation to Mr. Wilkin's liberality than the authors,

who, if the drawings, &c. had been to be paid for, must necessarily have contented themselves with giving a much smaller number.

To ALEXANDER MACLEAY, Esq. they are under particular obligations, for the warm interest he has all along taken in the work, the judicious advice he has on many occasions given, the free access in which he has indulged the authors to his unrivalled cabinet and well-stored library, and the numerous other attentions and accommodations by which he has materially assisted them in its progress.

To the other friends who have kindly aided them in this undertaking in any way, they beg here to offer their best thanks.

It now only remains that they should assign their reasons for sending the work into the world, contrary to their original intentions, in an imperfect state, by the publication of the first volume only. One inducement to this course has been the occurrence of unexpected interruptions, which, though the bulk of the work has been long written, have hitherto precluded the completion of the entire plan but their principal reason has been the wish to render the physiological and anatomical departments more perfect by the consultation of various continental works published within the last six or eight years, now for the first time ac

cessible; and to ascertain, by the public reception of this first part, whether it will be expedient to give the remainder that extension which was at one time contemplated, or to contract it within narrower limits. A history of Entomology, and a complete list of entomological works, (for which last Mr. Dryander's admirable catalogue of Sir Joseph Banks's library affords the fullest materials,) entered into the original plan, and the rough draught of both is completed; but whether these (which are not essential to a work of this nature) will be published, must depend upon the judgement of the public as to the value of that portion now submitted to them.

The contents of the remaining volumes will be nearly as follows. Societies of Insects, including the History of Ants, Wasps, Bees, &c. Motions of insects. Noises of insects. Means of defence from their enemies. Luminous insects. Hybernation of insects. Instinct of insects. Definition of the term Insect. States of insects-Egg; Larva; Pupa; Imago. Their general exterior Anatomy -Head; Trunk; Abdomen. Their interior Anatomy and Physiology-Sensation; Respiration; Circulation; Digestion; Secretion; Generation ; Diseases, &c. Senses of insects. Orismology and Definitions of terms. Characters of insectsClass, Order, Family, Genus, Species, Variety.

Investigation of insects. Seasons in which they appear. Instruments and mode of taking and preserving them,—with other particulars which it is not necessary here to enumerate.

THE List of Authors quoted in this work will be found in the last volume. It was intended to have given with this all the plates illustrative of the orders, but only three could be finished in time the remainder will appear in the second volume, and those which relate to the anatomy and definitions in the third and fourth.