An Introduction to Entomology: Vol. 3

by William Kirby

or Elements of the Natural History of the Insects

An Introduction to Entomology, by William Kirby, rector of Barham in Suffolk, and his friend William Spence, a Hull merchant, was published in four volumes between 1815 and 1826 and was the first systematic treatise on insects in English. The whole is cast as a series of letters. The earlier volumes dealt with the injuries and benefits insects bring and with their habits and societies; this third volume, published in 1826, turns to the science proper. It defines the term insect, describes the states of the egg, larva, pupa and imago, and then devotes four long letters to the external anatomy of insects, with an elaborate terminology for every part of head, trunk, wing and leg, explained in the plates at the end. It is available to read online in your browser on Vinteuil, with the first chapter free.