ENTOMOLOGY (Gr. entomon, an insect, logos, a discourse), the science which has insects (q.v.) for its subject. The mere collector of insects may be one of the humblest laborers in the great field of natural history, but his labors contribute materials for the more philosophic naturalist who studies the structures of these creatures, and compares them with one another according to the unity and the variety of design which they exhibit. .1nd when we begin to take into account the vast number of different species of insects, their great structure and of habits; their great complexity)of organization, the wonderful transformations which many of them undergo at different stages of their existence, and the equally wonderful but extremely various instincts which many of them display, we find E. to be a science worthy to engage the noblest mind. But besides all these things, we must remember that insects serve most important purposes in the general economy of nature; and that some of them are directly useful to man, some directly injurious, at least when their numbers are at any time excessively multiplied.
E., along with the other branches of natural history, was cultivated by Aristotle and other Greeks. Aristotle is the most ancient author of whose works anything relating to this science now remains. Pliny has little on this subject but what is copied from Aristotle; and it can scarcely be said to have been again studied as a science till the 16th c., when attention began once more to be directed to it, although it was not till the 17th c. that much progress was made, or that any important works on E. appeared. Insects then began to be described, not only those of Europe, but also some of the curious and splendid insects of tropical countries; bees and other insects of particular interest received attention; the metamorphoses of insects began to be studied, and their anat omy to be investigated. The names of Goedart, Malpighi, Swammerdam, Leuewen hoek, and Ray deserve to be particularly mentioned; but the infant state of the science may be illustrated by the fact, that about the end of the 17th c., Ray estimated the whole number of insects in the world at 10,000 species, a number smaller than is now known to exist in Britain alone. In the 18th c., the name of Linnxus occupies as high
a place in the history of E. as in that of kindred branches of science. The progress of the science was much promoted by his arrangement and exhibition of the discoveries of previous and contemporary naturalists; and by his system of classification, founded on characters taken from the wings, or their absence, a system professedly artificial, yet so harmonizing with the most natural distribution into groups, that some of its orders were indicated by Aristotle, and that it has retained and seems likely to retain its place, modified, indeed, but not essentially changed. De Geer and Fabricius are perhaps, after Linnwus, the most worthy to be named of the great entomologists of the 18th cen tury. At the close of the 18th and beginning of the 19th c., the name of Latreille is pre-eminently conspicuous; and in the year 1815, a new impulse began to be given to the study of E. in Britain by the publication of the admirable Introduction to Entomology of Messrs. Kirby and Spence, a work combining in a remarkable degree the merits of being at once popular and scientific. Since the beginning of the 19th c., the number of insects known and described has prodigiously increased; many entomologists have with great advantage devoted themselves particularly to the study of particular orders of insects; and many valuable monographs have appeared. Entomological literature has now become very extensive. The progress of the science has owed not a little to ento mological societies, of which the entomological society of London may be particularly mentioned. We cannot attempt to enumerate the distinguished entomologists of the 19th c., but perhaps the names of Leach, Macleay, Curtis, Stephens, Westwood, Smith, Walker, Stainton, Swainson, and Newman, deserve particular notice among those of Britain; Meigen, Gyllenhal, Gravenhorst, Hubner, Dufour, Boisduval, Erichsen, and Lacordaire among those of the continent of Europe; and Say among those of America. It is to be regretted that we have not yet any complete work on the insects of Britain. The Insecta Britannica, of which some volumes by different authors have been published under the auspices of the entomological society, is intended to supply the want.