connection with his particular gift. Mr Spence says: 'There were two
circumstances in Mr Kirby's study of insects, by which I was always
forcibly struck on my visits to him at Barham. The first was the
little parade of apparatus with which his extensive and valuable
acquisitions were made. If going to any distance, he would put into
his pocket a forceps-net and small water-net, with which to catch
bees, flies, and aquatic insects; but, in general, I do not remember
to have seen him use a net of any other description. His numerous
captures of rare and new Coleoptera were mostly made by carefully
searching for them in their haunts, from which--if trees, shrubs, or
long grass, &c.--he would beat them with his walking-stick into a
newspaper; and, collected in this way, he would bring home in a few
small phials in his waistcoat pockets, and in a moderate-sized
collecting-box, after an afternoon's excursion, a booty often much
richer than his companions had secured with their more elaborate
apparatus. The second circumstance in Mr Kirby's study of insects, to
which I allude, was the deliberate and careful way in which he
investigated the nomenclature of his species. Every author likely to
have described them was consulted, their descriptions duly estimated;
and it was only after thus coming to the decision that the insect
before him had not been previously described, that he placed it in his
cabinet under a new name. It was owing to this cautious mode of
proceeding--which young entomologists would do well to follow--that he
fell into so few errors, and rendered such solid service to the
science; and a not less careful consideration was always exercised by
him in the forming of new genera, and in his published descriptions of
new species, as his admirable papers in the _Linnaean Transactions_
amply testify.'

Considering how well Mr Kirby performed his professional duties, how
much he did to advance his favourite science, and how greatly he
contributed to the happiness of society within the sphere of his
personal influence, his may truly be said to have been a _well-spent
life_. On this account, Mr Freeman's memoir may be recommended to the
notice of many who are not as yet conscious of the charms of
entomology.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] _Life of the Rev. William Kirby, M.A._ By John Freeman. 8vo, pp.
506. London: Longman & Co. 1852.

THE MODERN TARTAR.

The phrase, 'Catching a Tartar,' points to a peculiarity in Tarta