PREFACE.

viii

the descendants inevitably resume the economy of theancestor.

The merit that attaches to the discovery of such factsis due merely to patience and diligence, very commonattributes ; anrl the repeated mention of the supposedfirst observer must, necessarily, in a work of this kind,which is far from being of a strictly scientific cha-racter, diminish the interest of the narrative by in-terrupting its connection, and thus making it an incon-gruous mosaic. The omission to cite authorities mayalso take place without any wish to detract from themerit of the discoverer, which is patent to all by his ownrecord in the archives of science.

Before concluding, I wish to express my best thanksto Thomas Desvignes, Esq., for the kindness and willing-ness with which he lent me, for the purposes of thiswork, my own selection from the Bees of his choice col-lection of British insects.

I now dismiss the book—truly a labour of love—with the hope that it will fall into the possession ofmany, who may be sufficiently interested in the subjectto induce them to become ardent entomologists, byshowing them within how' small a compass much agree-able instruction lies.

June , 1866 .