Note 1457 — LETTER XLVIII.

It may not be unprofitable here to mention those works which the Entomologist may find it most useful to consult in various departments of the science. For descriptions of the Genera and Species of insects in general, he must have recourse to the Entomologia Systematica emendata et aucta of Fabricius, and its Supplement; to the volumes he subsequently published under the titles Systema Eleutheratorum, Rhyngotorum, Glossatorum, Piezatorum, and Antliatorum; to the Genera Crustaceorum et Insectorum of Latreille; to the same department of the Règne Animal of Cuvier; and to the Animaux sans Vertèbres of Lamarck. He will find the genera of Linné and Fabricius illustrated by figures, in Rœmer's Genera; and many of the species described by the latter in Coquebert's Illustratio Iconographica. In our countryman Drury's beautiful Illustrations of Natural History, a large number of new and rare insects are depicted; and in Mr. Donovan's Insects of China, India, and New Holland, some of the most brilliant and interesting that have been imported from those countries. Panzer's Faunæ Insectorum Germanicæ Initia has little short of 3000 figures of insects of every Order (a considerable number of which are found to inhabit Britain), by the celebrated Sturm; and the latter, in his Deutschlands Fauna, has illustrated many Coleopterous genera analytically (as has also M. Clairville the weevils and Predaceous beetles of Switzerland in his Entomologie Helvétique) by his admirable pencil. Beetles in general are well figured and described in Olivier's splendid Entomologie; as are those of Europe in a beautiful work now in course of publication, under the title of Coleoptères d'Europe, by MM. Latreille and Dejean. The latter author has also begun a work on this Order under the title of Species général des Coléoptères de la Collection de M. Le Comte Dejean; two volumes of which have appeared, containing part of the Carabici Latr. but I fear it has stopped for want of encouragement. Had the descriptions been less verbose it would have had a better chance of success. For the Orthoptera and Hemiptera, the student must have recourse to Stoll's Spectres, Mantes, Sauterelles, Grillons, Blattes, Cigales, and Punaises. To a knowledge of the species of Lepidoptera, the admirable figures of Cramer (Papillons Exotiques de trois Parties du Monde), Esper (Schmetterlinge, Tagschmetterlinge), Hübner (Schmetterlinge, &c.), and Ochsenheimer's valuable Schmetterlinge von Europa, with the continuation by Treitschke, will afford a useful avenue. Meigen also, author of a most valuable work on the Europæan Diptera, is publishing at this time a work on Lepidoptera under the title of Europäische Schmetterlinge. To the Hymenoptera Jurine and Christian are the best guides, and to the Diptera Meigen.