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also at Maryland, New York, Carolina, where they are very large. 8. 3. Interruptus, Sierra Leone, Mr. Smeathman, 9. 3. Interruptus, Maryland, Mr. Milward, 1756, Lin. Syst. p. 560, f. 4. 10. 4. Interrupt. var. Rio Janeiro, Mr. Bonifas, 1775, that on the right hand from Mr. Laing, at Tobago. 12. Interrupt. var. Bought at Seymour's sale.

Here it is quite evident that Drury had carefully noted down the localities of all the specimens of this insect which he possessed, and which are now described as distinct species; and this extract will I think be quite sufficient to shew, that from the careful manner in which these Catalogues were kept by Mr. Drury, we are entitled to regard them, when there happens to be a difference between the works of Drury and Fabricius, Linnæus, &c. as at least of equal authority with the writings of these authors. I regret that these Catalogues did not come into my hands until after the first and second volumes of this edition were printed off. I have incorporated the notes in the third volume; and have given, as an Appendix, extracts from these Catalogues, where there happens to be any variation or doubt as to the locality of any of the species figured in the first two volumes.

I have almost invariably adopted the very proper principle of referring to that name, either generic or specific, which has the priority in point of date. In the first edition, the first volume appeared without specific names, which were at that time a novelty but recently introduced by Linnæus. In the second volume, however, an appendix was given, containing specific names both of the first and second volumes, and a similar appendix was given at the end of the third volume; but no specific names appeared in the body of the work. To many of the names contained in the appendices Fabricius referred, many he entirely omitted, and for many he substituted others. These last I have of course rejected; and have in many instances given the dates when the names were first imposed by the different authors—a plan which would be very serviceable if generally adopted. I have, likewise, made a point in many cases of restoring the specific proper names, where, in consequence of a change in the sex of the generic name, a corresponding change had been made in such specific name. This alteration had been carried to a great extent in the Encyclopédie Méthodique; and many male and female proper names had been completely altered, in order to suit them to the sex of the new genera in which they were placed. This was, however, an error on the wrong side; because it is admitted as an established principle, that if it should be thought necessary to subdivide a genus, the names of the subdivisions should be of the sex of the original generic name.

The plan upon which the first edition of this work was published may be seen from the following specimen, which is one of the shortest given, but which will be sufficient to shew not only the style of the former edition, but also the manner in which I have treated the subject and the additions which I have introduced.

Vol. I. Plate II.

Fig. III.—Expands about three inches. Upper Side.—The antennæ are black. The head, thorax, and abdomen brown. All the wings (the edges of which are even not dentated) are of a deep brown, with a shade of clay colour, rising near the anterior edges of the superior ones, runs along near the tips and ends at the external edges. Under Side.—The eyes are black, the palpi yellow. All the wings are the same brown colour as the upper side, with the clay-coloured shade near the tips as on that. The superior wings have five whitish spots on each placed on a row near the external edges, the inferior ones have on each sometimes five and sometimes seven spots of the same colour placed in a circular row, that meets near the extremity of the body. I received it from China. I cannot find it any where described.

Fig. III.—Il deploye ses aîles environ trois pouces. Le Dessus.—Les antennes sont noires. La tête le corcelet et l'abdomen bruns. Les aîles (dont les bords sont unis ou point dentélés) sont d'une couleur brune foncée, avec une nuance couleur d'argille se levant proche des bords antérieurs des aîles supérieures, qui court le long près des bouts et finit aux bords extérieurs. Le Dessous.—Les yeux sont noires, les antennules jaunes. Toutes les aîles sont de la même couleur brune que en dessus, avec la nuance d'argille proche des bouts chacune des aîles supérieures a cinq taches blanchâtres, placées sur une ligne près des bords extérieurs. Les inférieures ont chacune quelquefois cinq et quelquefois sept taches de la même couleur rangées circulairment et se rencontrant près de l'extrémité du corps. Il l'ai reçue de la Chine. Je ne le trouve point décrit.

The name of Papilio Eumeus was consequently proposed for this insect in the Appendix to the second volume.

Amongst the manuscripts with which I have been favoured by the relatives of Mr. Drury, or have obtained elsewhere, are comprised a variety of notes relative to the publication of this work, and of observations from which the following are selected. He notices that "his descriptions are only intended to assist the reader in ascertaining the different species; and that they are not intended to be so complete as to give a perfect idea of the animal without the help of the figure." He alludes to the difficulty not only "of ascertaining true colours or calling them by their proper names," but also of "colouring the prints so, as to exactly represent the natural specimens,"—that he has mentioned and given English names to no more parts of insects than had suited his purpose for describing them,—that "there are some parts mentioned in the descriptions which cannot be seen in the plates, such as the Gorget (Sternum), &c. which may serve not only to assist in classing them, but to ascertain their species." "The descriptions of the Hymenoptera are not intended to be so complete as to give a perfect idea of the insect, but are only given to assist the reader in observing the figures."

"All the descriptions are taken from the insects themselves; whatever defects, therefore, are to be observed in comparing them with the coloured figures must be imputed to the artist, as it would not be proper to describe them according to the prints, but to nature."—It is in consequence of this last remark that I have been careful to omit nothing of the original edition in this edition of the least importance, but have given the description as much as possible in the words of the author himself.

I have also added a general Systematic Index to the entire work, and an Alphabetic Index, in which the names employed in the first edition are distinguished by an asterisk.

The collection formed by Drury was exceedingly choice, and had occupied nearly thirty years in its formation; for although, as Drury himself says (in one of the printed circulars which he distributed with a view to its sale) "there may be in Holland collections more numerous, having in many instances a great number of a single species, yet no collection abounds with such a wonderful