ILLUSTRATIONS

OF

EXOTIC ENTOMOLOGY,

CONTAINING

UPWARDS OF SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY

FIGURES AND DESCRIPTIONS

OF

FOREIGN INSECTS,

INTERSPERSED WITH

REMARKS AND REFLECTIONS ON THEIR NATURE AND PROPERTIES.

BY DRU DRURY.

A NEW EDITION,

BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT STATE OF THE SCIENCE,
WITH THE SYSTEMATIC CHARACTERS OF EACH SPECIES, SYNONYMS, INDEXES,
AND OTHER ADDITIONAL MATTER.

BY J. O. WESTWOOD, F.L.S.

SOC. CÆS. NAT. CUR. MOSQ. SOC.
ETC. ETC.

VOL. III.

LONDON:

HENRY G. BOHN, 4, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

MDCCCXXXVII.

MR. DRURY'S PREFACE

TO THE FIRST EDITION.

VOL. III.

Grateful for the favourable reception the two preceding volumes of this work have met from the lovers of Natural History, it is with pleasure that I now present them, though late, with this my third and last volume, which has been completed in opposition to greater disadvantages and disappointments than attended either of the others.

It may not be superfluous to inform my readers, that this publication is the result of such leisure hours only as could be spared from an indispensable assiduity to immediate business, and a necessary attention, at that time, to an impaired constitution.

This being taken into consideration, little apology will be required for the length of time I have been in bringing it out, by those who know what trouble we must necessarily have with the various artists, who are employed in executing the different parts of such a work, and with what scrupulous exactness and care every minute part ought to be examined and corrected. This unavoidable delay, however, has been productive of another circumstance, which compels me to entreat all their candour and indulgence.

I have always made it a rule of my conduct to promote Natural History by every method in my power. My cabinet has therefore been open to all those gentlemen, from whatever part of the world they came, who made Entomology their study. In consequence of this permission, descriptions of many of the insects now published have got abroad some time since, and even figures of several of them have made their appearance. This I did not expect, as many of my plates were entirely finished some months, and even years, before those above-mentioned could have got forth. This will account for the seeming contradiction in many places, upon comparing the descriptions with the Index, where many insects are described and mentioned as new ones, but in the Index have their synonyms given in various authors. The truth is, the descriptions were made about the year 1775, between which time and the present those authors published their respective works.

But who can foresee disappointments, or avoid their effects? It may be urged, that these plates might have been omitted, and others substituted. In so doing, however, I could not have been justified, either to the purchasers of the former volumes, or to myself. Many of them, there is no doubt, would not have the figures of those insects alluded to, unless in this work; and, as to my part, without considering the loss, neither my business, my health, nor my leisure, would have enabled me to supply their place. This very circumstance I have mentioned in the Preface to my last volume, wherein I bespoke the candour of my readers for an anticipation of a similar kind, which got abroad before I could bring out that volume. In the present case, I have the greatest reason to request the same indulgence from a motive still stronger, which is, that almost all the figures given by other authors, and which I have quoted in the index, were taken from specimens originally in my possession. As it is, I hope, the novelty, the beauty, and the curiosity of the other insects herein published, will, by affording large gratification to the inquisitive naturalist, make some amends, and that the nature of my situation will procure me a full acquittal from any kind of premeditated imposition.

In regard to the manners and economy of the insects now published, I have been able to get little information. There are very few, even of those who collect abroad, who will give themselves the trouble of making observations; and such as do not want inclination or ability, and even travel expressly for the purpose, find great, and to us almost inconceivable impediments.

Mr. Smeathman, who has been many years in Africa and the West Indies, has furnished me with a few remarks on this subject, together with observations on some particular insects, published in the preceding volumes as well as this. These observations, I am of opinion, will afford information and entertainment to my readers, and, at the same time, throw some light on the nature, qualities, or dispositions of many kinds of insects, of which, hitherto, we know nothing more than the external figure. He informs me, that in hot climates, especially such as are not well settled, the difficulties attending every kind of study, and every species of collecting, are infinitely greater than those who have not visited them can possibly suppose. In those countries, either from the scarcity and high price of the materials, or the dearness of labour, the traders or settlers are obliged to calculate for little more than necessary house-room, with such conveniences only as are absolutely necessary for their different occupations and pursuits; in which they are, from these circumstances, frequently much cramped and embarrassed. If this is the case with those who have all the best means in their power of providing for themselves, how must it be with transient persons and speculative travellers, who are seldom profitable visitors, and whose studies consequently meet with little partiality from such as are assiduously engaged in the sole pursuit of wealth or power?

As to the breeding of insects, and observing their changes and dispositions with care and circumspection, it seems almost impossible in the nature of things to be practised, except, comparatively speaking, with