PAGE 10, 1. 20.

*Many curious men, Here the author enumerates feveral collections in Cermany, and in Holland; and Mr Lyonet, in a note, mentions one that he had omitted: but, as these have now paffed into other hands, we thought it needless to tranflate this part of the work.

PAGE 11, 1. 13.

Maria Sibylla Merian. This lady was a native of Frankfort on the Maine. She acquired a tafte for the study of infects, by breeding filk- worms. After having ftudied thofe of her native place, fhe went to Nuremberg, where the continued her researches. In 1679, the published the first part of her defcription of European infects, and in 1683, the fecond. She afterwards came to the United Provinces, where the fame animals continued the object of her studies at Frieseland and Amfterdam. The opportunities she there had, of feeing thofe that were brought from the Indies, infpired her with the defire of undertaking a voyage to America. She departed in 1699, for Surinam, where the remained two years, employed in delineating the most beautiful infects of thofe countries; and, the afterwards published her work, in a magnificent edition, adorned with plates of exquifite beauty.

PAGE II, 1. 28.

The edition which was printed. This work contains only the mere delineation of a great number of infects, without any defcription. The plates are engraved with tafte; many of the figures give a pretty accurate reprefentation of the originals; but others are very imperfect, and in general, the fpecific differences are but little attended to. This collection cannot be of great ufe to the naturalist, because Ho efnagel did not follow his infects through their different changes, but contented himself with painting them in the state in which chance prefented them to him, without obferving either order or method.

PAGE 12, 1. 9.

Thefe drawings. Among those who have given us reprefentations of infects, in their different forms, I know none who have performed the task fo well as Mr L'Admiral of Amfterdam. He has begun to publish his work on in

fects,

fects, in folio, which will, as he fuppofes, contain about 400 pages of letter prefs, and 100 plates. After having painted each animal from nature, he etches them himfelf. The eight plates, which have only yet been published, are an evidence of his ability, and make us expect with impatience, the performance of his work, which he feems at prefent to have difcontinued. In imitation of Mad. Merian, he proposes to reprefent each infect on the plant it ufes for food: if he had fpared himself this trouble, his book would not have been lefs valued by the learned. Thefe fuperfluous ornaments ferve but to divert the attention from the principal object; which is in fome measure loft, when fur rounded by fo many acceffory objects, greater than itself; and a treatise on infects, ornamented with fo many plants, looks more like a botanical performance.

PAGE 13, 1. 9.

Twenty five thousand times. One would fuppofe there was here fome error in the text: for how can we imagine, that the author would mention, as a remarkable circumftance, a microscope which magnified twenty five thousand times, when he speaks afterwards, in this introduction, of a microscope which magnified fixteen millions of times?

PAGE 13, 1. laft

Ph. Bonasini. Bonanni did not content himself, with treating merely of the wings of infects: we have of his, a volume in quarto, the first part of which contains diffufe difcuffions on equivocal generation, and he dues his utmost to prove, that corruption may produce living beings. His manner of reafoning, is fingular in this, that all his arguments proceed from his ignorance of Natural History. He could not conceive, how certain plants, or certain infects were produced, therefore, they were generated from putrefaction. The gnat, for instance, which every body knows, proceeds from an aquatic maggot, generated by other gnats, is produced, according to him, from flacked lime: and his argument is, that he does not know, whence gnats are produced, but he has often feen them on walls, newly whitened. Is not this an excellent proof, that wet lime can create gnats? and yet, it is his way of reafoning. After this effay, which he might well have fpared himself the trouble of publishing, he defcribes feveral hells, and then

treats of the construction of microfcopes, and lastly, fpeaks of the objects he has examined, with the help of these inftruments. It is on this occafion, that he defcribes the wings of fome flies, and the little plumes on those of butterflies. Such is the plan of his work. The plates are indifferent enough, and what he fays of infects, appears to me, very fuperficial.

PAGE 16, 1. 1.

I return to Blancard. The pompous title of this book, and even the manner in which it is here mentioned, would make one believe, that Blancard had treated the subject much more at large than he has done. Would one imagine, that his whole work contains only the defcription, (and that too, not always compleat,) of feventeen caterpillars, one falfe caterpillar, twelve maggots which change into flies, and four forts of gall infects, three beetles, one ephemera, fix aphides, one 1pider, one fhelled, and one naked fnail, amounting only to forty feven different infects? Mr Frifch, in the preface to his fourth book on infects, reckons only forty fix, among which he fays, there are only eleven caterpillars. There must be fome error in his calculation, or fome difference in the editions. But however this may be, the greater part of Blancard's figures are exceedingly well engraved.

PAGE 16, 1. 19.

Frifch. This author is very accurate in his defcription of the external parts of infects. He does not enter into any anatomical details, but, to make amends for this deficiency, he gives a very faithful hiftory, and often very complete, of a great number of infects, containing many curious and enterefting facts. The number of 300 infects, which he feems to have proposed to publifh, has obliged him, in order to make it complete, to give only a mere defcription of these animals in their perfect fate, without any historical detail. His plates, though they do not come from the hand of a mafter, reprefent, (at least many of them) their originals, tolerably well. It is to be wifhed, that the author had treated his fubject methodically, and that he had written in a language more generally understood; his work would, in that cafe, have been much more useful to the world. Each part of that work appeared feparately; the firft was printed in 1720, and the last in 1758. The whole make a pret

ty

ty thick quarto volume, and the more inftructive, as it contains the defcription of a very great number of German infects, especially thofe of the environs of Berlin; and thus facilitates the knowledge of fuch as are peculiar to that country. His work, however, would have been still more ufeful, had the author been careful to distinguish the infects he found in the neighbourhood, or in the environs of the place of his refidence, from thofe he may have procured. elsewhere.

On this occafion, I cannot help remarking, that it would tend greatly to the advancement of Natural History, if thofe who publish on infects, would apply to the ftudy of fuch infects only, as are to be found in the neighbourhood of their own place of refidence. This would give them an opportunity of repeating their experiments, as often as they fhould judge it neceffary for the afcertainment of a fact: and, being limited to a small district, they would more eafily discover what it contained, and this could not fail of making them find a great number of infects, which are still entirely unknown, and will continue fo, as long as people content themselves, with making, in different places, vain and fuperficial investigations.

I with alfo, that thofe who write on fuch fubjects, would take particular care, to caufe each animal be reprefented of its natural fize; to exprefs the outline with accuracy, and to trace minutely, the form and colour of the fpots, and to mark with precifion, the light and dark parts, that nothing may be wanting, which may ferve to characterife the fpecific differences in the various fpecies of infects, of the fame genus.

This circumftance, it must be confeffed, has hitherto been very much neglected. There are but very few works which are not liable to fome blame in this refpect: for, unless a naturalift be himself an able draughtfman, and have the requifite talent, of expreffing with accuracy, the nice and delicate characters which dittinguifh infects of the fame genus, it will be very difficult for him to publifh any thing of a finished nature on the fubject. The perfons employed to make fuch defigns, though expert enough in their art, rarely fatisfy our expectation. Being accustomed to draw from fancy, and to follow their own manner, to make their fubject picturefque, and to improve upon nature, they have not patience to follow her, step by step, in the delineation of an

Nn 2

animal,

animal, fo defpicable in their eyes, as an infect. They grow tired, therefore, in copying fo many minutiæ, their attention relaxes, and the work exhibits evident marks of their negligence,

It were to be wifhed, therefore, that every naturalist were a skilful draughtfman; but as this is impoffible, Į would require at leaft, that they knew enough of the art, properly to direct the painters they employ, and to judge of their work as connoiffeurs, that they might receive nothing from their hands, except what was correct and well-finished. It is by this means alone, and by that I have already mentioned, that we can ever become able to fix the number of known infects, to understand their hiftory, to determine fuch as are peculiar to any country, what effects difference of climate produces on them; in a word, to have as general and distinct a knowledge of infects, as we have of other animals and plants; but if thefe precautions are neglected, authors will give themfelves much ufelefs trouble: and even the more this written on the fubject, the more danger there will be, of diffeminating uncertainty and confufion, when we defcend to particulars. There will, no doubt, be a great number of curious facts brought to light, respecting infects; but, when one fhall attempt to verify thefe facts, by bis own experience, he will not know where to find the animal, nor when found, will he know it: and the fame animal, reprefented in ten different works, will appear in each, of a different fpecies; while ten different animals to be found there, might be taken for the fame animal. This cannot but load Natural History with a vast number of imaginary infects, while the true fpecies will, for the most part, be unknown.

PAGE. 17. 1. 3.

Goedart. The work of this author is to be ranked among thofe that have plates indifferently engraved, especially thofe in the French tranflation. Many infects are there fo ill reprefented that they cannot be known, and thofe that are known are for the moft part fo defective that if the detail of their changes and the defcriptions that accompany it did not fupply the faults of the figure, almoft the whole of the plates would become ufelefs. It must be confeffed likewife that the defcriptions are in general very imperfect; and as Goedart lived at a