page_title: British Entomology
section_title: Contemporary reviews
hierarchical_section_title: British Entomology / Contemporary reviews
caption_attribution_description: English: Plate 527 from British Entomology by John Curtis. Un-retouched scan except for the removal of paper toning. Marsh Fan-foot moth (Pyralis cribalis) with Marsh Helleborine (Epipcatis palustris) orchid.
context_page_description: British Entomology is a classic work of entomology by John Curtis, FLS. It is subtitled Being Illustrations and Descriptions of the Genera of Insects found in Great Britain and Ireland: Containing Coloured Figures from Nature of the Most Rare and Beautiful Species, and in Many Instances of the Plants Upon Which they are Found.
  The work comprises 770 hand-coloured, copper-plate engravings, each 8 by ​5 ¹⁄₂ inches, together with two or more pages of text. The work was issued in monthly parts over 16 years, each part comprising three or more plates. Plates were initially printed on James Whatman's Turkey Mill paper and then on Rye Mill paper.
  It was a masterpiece of the engraver's and colourist's art, described by the eminent French naturalist Georges Cuvier as the "paragon of perfection". Close examination of a proof set of plates reveals an obsessive attention to detail. The shading of the foliage is typically achieved by multiple, finely engraved lines spaced at intervals of five or more to the millimetre. The fronds of many moth antennae are individually coloured – as in plate 674.
context_section_description: From: The Entomological Magazine, Volume I, 1832.  Page 29.
  Mr. Curtis commenced his beautiful work on the first of January, 1824, and has, with the most rigid punctuality, continued it in monthly numbers from that time to the present. We cannot be expected minutely to criticise such a mass of matter as must be contained in so extensive and laboured a production, yet we trust a few general observations will not be unacceptable to our readers.
  Each number contains four highly finished and accurately coloured figures of insects, with dissections of the parts from which the generic characters are taken, at the foot of the page.
  Each of these figures is intended to illustrate a genus; and in order to be able to give plates of the most rare and beautiful species of each genus, and to record fresh discoveries as they occur, Mr. Curtis has not followed the usual plan of adopting any system of arrangement; a plan by which an author is frequently bound to publish sections of his subject, which have never obtained sufficient attention to bring them into anything approaching a state of perfection. There are, perhaps, disadvantages attending this plan while in progress; but ultimately the work must, by this mode of publication, be rendered much more complete than it possibly could have been, had the genera been figured in regular succession. The plates, generally, represent one Coleopterous, one Hymenopterous, one Lepidopterous, and one Dipterous or Hemipterous insect ; and we may safely say, we have never seen representations more elegant, or more true to nature. The dissections we have, in many instances, examined and compared with the originals; and we are enabled to bear our testimony to their accuracy; and are convinced that engravings of this kind, tend more to fix the characters of genera on the mind than the most laboured descriptions.
  Mr. Curtis frequently, in his plates of Lepidoptera, gives a figure of the larva, together with the plant on which it feeds: and, unwilling as we are to find fault, we feel we shall not be doing our duty to the public without expressing our disapprobation of a practice which Mr. Curtis has latterly too frequently adopted; we mean, that of copying the larvae from the figures of Continental authors, instead of from real British specimens.
  Mr. Curtis must be thoroughly aware, that the same species varies so much in different climates, as to size, colour, and form, that it would be quite incorrect to figure an exotic specimen as British, even of an insect decidedly ascertained to be a native: secondly, every one is aware of the great propensity in our Continental neighbours to exaggerate their drawings, both as to size and colour: and, thirdly, Hübner's acknowledged carelessness about names, must frequently be a cause of error; and this error thus becomes perpetuated. We feel confident Mr. Curtis's excellent sense will convince him of the validity of these objections, especially when we assure him that many of his subscribers would prefer having no figure of the larva at all, to one copied from a foreign author. The gaudy caterpillars already figured, give to this part of the work a semi-foreign appearance, which deteriorates its value in the eyes of the British Entomologist: we speak not unadvisedly; we make ourselves the organ of the sentiments of others
  
  In future numbers of this magazine, we purpose examining minutely every number of Mr. Curtis's, and all other periodicals which may intervene between the appearance of our own numbers ; but it is obvious we cannot suitably infringe on our allotted space for that purpose now, as it is necessary to give a general idea of each work before commencing the more laborious detail. We conclude, by heartily recommending the work before us to the attention and patronage of every British Entomologist; and we already have the happiness of knowing that, on the Continent of Europe, it is held in the highest esteem.
  The criticism outlined in the penultimate paragraph was entirely unjustified as Curtis was well aware of the danger and modified Jacob Hübner's sl
caption: Proof impression: Plate 527, marsh fan-foot (Pyralis cribralis) with marsh helleborine (Epipactis palustris)
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-GX80", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.0", "Image DateTime": "2017:08:23 15:46:53", "Image ExifOffset": "186", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "0", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:08:23 15:46:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Fine weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "0", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3540", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "5804", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF LensModel": "", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000000"}