Copy 2

The naturalist's and traveller's companion, containing instructions for discovering & preserving objects of natural history and for promoting inquiries after human knowledge in general / [Anon].

  • Lettsom, John Coakley, 1744-1815.
Date:
1774
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The naturalist's and traveller's companion, containing instructions for discovering & preserving objects of natural history and for promoting inquiries after human knowledge in general / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the fhape of the thighs, feet and claws j the flings peculiar to the hymenoptera clafs, and the ufes they are applied to: but the natural hiflory of infeCts fhould in a peculiar manner engage the travel* ler’s attention, as it is of more confequence to difcover the natural hiflory of one definitive or ufeful infeCt, than merely to collet and bring over twenty in their perfet flate; the former, at the fame time that it makes the fcience more en¬ tertaining, bids fair to benefit mankind, while the latter ferves only to fill the cabinets of the curious; he fhould there¬ fore carefully obferve the manner in which infets copulate, and the places where they depofit their eggs; what food the young larvae or caterpillars feed upon; if vegetable, whether it be the root, trunk, leaf, flower or fruit; if deftruClive, a& they moflly are, the methods ufed by the natives to deflroy them; and if ufeful, the means of cultivating them; and what are their natural enemies; the form, atti¬ tude and markings of the caterpillar, fhould be defcribed; if it has feet, their number, and the particular rings on which they are fituated; whether it be fmooth, hairy or fpinous, and the manner of its chang¬ ing into the chryfalis or pupa ftate, and how long it continues before it arrives to perfection, with the various inflincts and con-