Book excerpt: Excerpt from A Revision of the Coleopterous Family Coccinellidae Having spent many happy hours with the lamented author in the examination of the beautiful forms of which this book treats, I have felt it a pleasant thing to be associated, even in so humble a capacity, with its introduction to the Entomological world; and the little service I have had the privilege of rendering in the revision of the proof-sheets of the latter half of the work, has been quite a labour of love - enabling mo to offer a slight testimony of affection to a kind friend, and of my personal interest in that family of the Coleoptera which had first attracted my attention by the singular loveliness of its numerous species. A careful revision by the author himself would have been of incalculable value to the work; its usefulness would also have been greatly enhanced, had it been possible for him to have made those modifications and additions which his investigations in America afforded materials for. But, of course, this was not possible. There is, however, the consolation of knowing that the student can obtain the results of those later researches, in the author's memoir, entitled "Revision of the Coccinellidae of the United States," to which Mr Janson refers in the note which follows this preface. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."