Book Description

Excerpt from Illustrations of Exotic Entomology, Vol. 1: Containing Upwards of Six Hundred and Fifty Figures and Descriptions of Foreign Insects, Interspersed With Remarks and Reflections on Their Nature and Properties The acknowledged value of the figures contained in Drury's "Illustrations," the extreme rarity of many of the insects figured thereui, which continue up to the present day to be unique, and the scarcity of the work itself, which appears almost unknown to Continental Entomologists, having induced the proprietor of the plates to republish the work, I have consented to undertake the charge of bringing it forth in a form more adapted to the present greatly advanced state of Entomology. How far I have succeeded must be left for the candid Entomologist to decide. It is fit however that, by way of bespeaking indulgence for the numerous errors into which I fear that I have, notwithstanding all my care, fallen, I should mention the obstacles which have operated against my giving the work that perfect style which I could have wished it to possess. Of these the chief difficulty has arisen from the non-possession of the specimens which served for the original illustrations, without which it may be readily conceived that it has been impossible to ascertain with precision many of the more minute characters, of which the present state of the science requires the investigation; thus in many cases I have been obliged to remain in ignorance of the particular structure of the antennae, trophi and leos and the disposition of the veins of the wings, in many of the smaller species of Lepidoptera, so that the precise genera may not in some instances be correctly stated; and to many I have been compelled to attach marks of interrogation for the like reason. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.