have been able to take advantage of their difcover. ries; but I have not entirely relied upon them. I confidered myself as obliged to ftudy the ftructure of the bodies of the larger animals; and I defcended to the contemplation of thofe whofe minutenefs requires the aid of inftruments. The greater progrefs one makes in this world of wonders, the more grandeur one difcovers in it, and the more we are convinced that it is an ocean of which we fee only the fhores. An aftronomer has no doubt great difficulty in furyeying the vast extent of the heavenly bodies, but it is not lefs difficult to confider the almoft infinite diversity of infects fpread through the air, over the earth and in the waters. If the telescope of an aftronomer allows him to difcover a thousand things, wonderful from their bulk, or their revolutions, the microscope enables the observer to discover in infects as many things marvellous for their minutenefs and the changes they undergo.

Many curious men have dedicated their leisure hours to the collection of all the different forts of infects that have come to their knowledge. It must be allowed that fuch collections are of great ufe, they prefent at one view a great many objects of curiofity, unknown to the generality of people, who are inchanted with the fight of fo many rarities collected together, which they often had feen feparately, without beftowing on them the fmalleft attention. In this manner one is often enabled to inftruct fome, and to fatisfy the curiofity of others. Befides, it is always fafer to confult the originals, than to trust to their reprenta

tons,

tions, by the pen or pencil. Tfe always exprefs with fidelity, and without difguife, every object as it is formed by Nature; but the latter may eafily lead to error.

Not that I difapprove of the labours of thofe who have undertaken to delineate objects from life; far from it. I admire a book in the library of the Vatican at Rome, the margins of which are adorned with a great number of figures of infects exceeding ly natural and correct. Mr Franck of Ulm in his old age, painted a whole book of excellent figures. When I confider the exquifite nature of the work, which the illuftrious Marie Sibylle Merian has published on the Metamorphofes of Caterpillars, and on the flowers of the plants which furnish their principal food, I cannot enough admire the accuracy with which the delineates thofe infects in their different ftates; and her talent of prefenting to the eye, the variety which nature has eftablished in the mixture and diftribution of her colours. She has not confi ned her labours to the infects of her own country; her zeal carried her to undertake a voyage to the Weft Indies, which procured for us in 1705, another work on the transformations of the infects of Surinam. Similar reprefentations have not a little contributed to the reputation which J. Hoeffnagel, first painter to the Emperor Rodolph II. has acquired. The edition which was printed by J. N. Viflcher in 1630, containing 326 figures, establifhed his reputation. It was by defigns of infects that the cabinet of Arundel was enriched, and by

which the induftious Winceslas Hollaar, acquired the admiration of the public. J. Johnston did not think he mifemployed his pencil in painting a great number of butterflies, which Monconys fays he faw at Basil in the hands of Mr Platern. I have myself feen at Furra, in the house of M. de Wurm, Gentleman of the Bed chamber to his Polish Majefty, fome butterflies painted in miniature by that gentleman on blue paper,with great art and accuracy. Thefe drawings have not only the advantage of recalling the idea of every fort of known infect, but prefent a fort of a bridgement of the works of nature in this particular. On looking at them, we behold at one view the infects of all feasons, and of every country. Befides, they fupply the deficiences of the pen in defcrip tion; and they exhibit all the beauty of their origi nals.

To continue to do juftice to thofe perfons, whofe knowledge has affifed me in the compofition of this work, I ought to mention thofe authors who have examined the different parts of infects with the microscope. The firft that I find, is J. Bononius, who in 1687, published a letter at Florence, in which he enters into a detail of feveral difcoveries equally ufeful and important on this fubject. P. Borrelli, Counsellor and Phyfician to his moft Chriflian Majefty, alfo turned his attention to the fame fubject, and nas made obfervations on about an hundred infects of different fpecies. We owe likewife a great deal to J. F. Gricndel of Ach, Canon of the Order of the Holy Ghoft, and Engineer to his Imperial Ma

jesty.

jefty. R. Hook has however left this last far behind him, for the patience and accuracy with which he has undertaken and compleated his refearches. M. Joblot, Profeffor of Mathematics at Paris, and a Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, need not regret his valuable labours. He made ufe of a variety of Microscopes for his obfervations, and he had one among the reft, which magnified objects, five and twenty thousand times their natural fize. I must not forget N. Hartfoecker, Counsellor to the Elector Palatine, and an able mathematician. He was the first who examined the liquid fubftance in the body of infects; and made ufe of microscopes for this purpofe, fimilar to thofe made at Paris for obferving fluids. A. Leeuwenhoeck, has acquired deferved fame for his dexterity in obferving infects by the microscope, and for the exactness with which he has communicated his obfervations to the Public. J. de Muralte has equally enriched the Republic of Letters, with his remarks on this fubject. I fhall fay nothing of thofe of H. Power, printed at London in 1665. I know not whe ther any thing material concerning infects is to be found in that work. Many authors have confined their obfervations to a few particular fpecies. Such are F. Redi, who has given us obfervations on the lice of Birds, and other animals; and P. P. Sangallo, who has likewife written on gnats. Some have treated only of one part of an infect; the Abbé Catalan, for example, has observed the eyes; and Ph. Bonanni, the wings.

All

All the difcoveries of thofe authors being due to the Microscope, it is eafy to infer how valuable the affiftance of that inftrument is to the observer. It enables us to penetrate into a fort of invifible region, and difplays to our eyes a new world, compofed of an infinite number of living beings. The antients, deprived of this invention, trusted only to their eyes, which might mislead them, but could not enlarge their difcoveries. But by the aid of this inftrument we have gone a great way; we have paffed from doubt to certainty, and modern Naturalists are enabled to rectify their errors, by the affiftance of thofe very nieans which produced them.

It remains for me to fpeak of thofe Naturalifts whom a noble ardour has encouraged to write the Hiftory of Infects. Not content with having given us the figure and defcribed the form, they have de, tailed their properties. Elian, in his hiftory of animals, Aristotle, and Pliny, in their Natural History enter into very interefling difcuffions; but their facility in adopting the fentiments of others has made them fall into miftakes, which very much difcredit their opinions.

The moderns have gone much farther. An English painter, named Albin, published in 1720, the Natural Hiflory of the infects of his country; which he accompanied with an hundred copperplates, of masterly execution. It was not in the power of every one to procure fo magnificent a Work. It coft two guineas, and the coloured copies four. The defcriptions