Illustrations of Exotic Entomology, Volume 3 — Story, Setting & Ideas

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In Category - Insects

Authors: Drury, Dru, 1725-1803, Westwood, J. O. (John Obadiah), 1805-1893 [Editor] Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2014 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Insects -- Pictorial works Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 46,004

Reading time 201 min

Text sections 17

The catalog record for Illustrations of Exotic Entomology, Volume 3 — Story, Setting & Ideas provides practical reading context through 46,004 words, 3 hr 21 min estimated reading time, and 17 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 10.5 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Insects -- Pictorial works,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #47601

This editorial note examines the structure and recurring visual patterns in Dru Drury's third volume of exotic insect illustrations, focusing on the interplay between precise descriptive language and the movement from specimen to plate.

Editorial Edition Score 4.8/5

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Title & short description10 pts
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Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
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File: pg47601

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The copy on which this edition is based was bound with the 3 volumes of text in one physical volume and the plates in another. They have been reordered into 3 separate projects with the plates inserted adjacent to the related text - other copies are known to have been bound in this fashion.

Page numbers enclosed by curly braces (example: {25}) have been incorporated to facilitate the use of the Index.

Images of the original plates are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/illustrationsofe12drur

Project Gutenberg has the other two volumes of this work. Volume I: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47599. Volume II: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47600.

UPWARDS OF SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY

FIGURES AND DESCRIPTIONS

REMARKS AND REFLECTIONS ON THEIR NATURE AND PROPERTIES.

BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT STATE OF THE SCIENCE, WITH THE SYSTEMATIC CHARACTERS OF EACH SPECIES, SYNONYMS, INDEXES, AND OTHER ADDITIONAL MATTER.

BY J. O. WESTWOOD, F.L.S.

SOC. CÆS. NAT. CUR. MOSQ. SOC. ETC. ETC.

HENRY G. BOHN, 4, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

{iii}MR. DRURY'S PREFACE

TO THE FIRST EDITION.

Grateful for the favourable reception the two preceding volumes of this work have met from the lovers of Natural History, it is with pleasure that I now present them, though late, with this my third and last volume, which has been completed in opposition to greater disadvantages and disappointments than attended either of the others.

It may not be superfluous to inform my readers, that this publication is the result of such leisure hours only as could be spared from an indispensable assiduity to immediate business, and a necessary attention, at that time, to an impaired constitution.

This being taken into consideration, little apology will be required for the length of time I have been in bringing it out, by those who know what trouble we must necessarily have with the various artists, who are employed in executing the different parts of such a work, and with what scrupulous exactness and care every minute part ought to be examined and corrected. This unavoidable delay, however, has been productive of another circumstance, which compels me to entreat all their candour and indulgence.

I have always made it a rule of my conduct to promote Natural History by every method in my power. My cabinet has therefore been open to all those gentlemen, from whatever part of the world they came, who made Entomology their study. In consequence of this permission, descriptions of many of the insects now published have got abroad some time since, and even figures of several of them have made their appearance. This I did not expect, as many of my plates were entirely finished some months, and even years, before those above-mentioned could have got forth. This will account for the seeming contradiction in many places, upon comparing the descriptions with the Index, where many insects are described and mentioned as _new_ ones, but in the Index have their synonyms given in various authors. The truth is, the descriptions were made about the year 1775, between which time and the present those authors published their respective works.

But who can foresee disappointments, or avoid their effects? It may be urged, that these plates might have been omitted, and others substituted. In so doing, however, I could {iv}not have been justified, either to the purchasers of the former volumes, or to myself. Many of them, there is no doubt, would not have the figures of those insects alluded to, unless in this work; and, as to my part, without considering the loss, neither my business, my health, nor my leisure, would have enabled me to supply their place. This very circumstance I have mentioned in the Preface to my last volume, wherein I bespoke the candour of my readers for an _anticipation_ of a similar kind, which got abroad before I could bring out that volume. In the present case, I have the greatest reason to request the same indulgence from a motive still stronger, which is, that almost all the figures given by other authors, and which I have quoted in the index, were taken from specimens originally in my possession. As it is, I hope, the novelty, the beauty, and the curiosity of the other insects herein published, will, by affording large gratification to the inquisitive naturalist, make some amends, and that the nature of my situation will procure me a full acquittal from any kind of premeditated imposition.

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Dru Drury's Illustrations of Exotic Entomology, Volume 3 is organized as a systematic catalogue of foreign insects, each entry pairing a hand-colored plate with a detailed description. The work's structure moves from a general preface to individual species accounts, where a consistent pattern emerges: each description begins with the upper side of the insect, then the under side, followed by taxonomic synonyms and habitat. This binary division—upper versus under—creates a rhythmic alternation that mirrors the act of turning a specimen over for examination.

The Upper and Under Side as Structural Motif

Nearly every species entry in this volume is split into two distinct sections: “Upper Side” and “Under Side.” This repeated binary structure imposes a disciplined observational order. For instance, in Nymphalis Iole, the upper side is described as “brown-black, a considerable part of them encircling the body being dark orange,” while the under side shifts to “brown, having a blueish as well as a reddish hue.” The contrast is not merely visual but textual—the under side often introduces new colors (cream, grey) and patterns (waved lines, white spots) absent above. This structural choice emphasizes that a complete understanding of an insect requires viewing it from multiple perspectives, a lesson in careful looking.

Recurring Images: Spots, Bands, and Borders

Across the excerpts, certain descriptive elements recur with striking frequency. Spots appear in nearly every entry: “square black spot,” “two very small ones,” “five small white spots,” “round black spot encircled with yellow.” Bands and borders are equally common: “white band,” “black border,” “row of white spots.” These recurring motifs create a visual vocabulary that links disparate species. The descriptions often quantify these features precisely—“two narrow faint reddish longitudinal streaks” or “a row of white spots thereon”—suggesting that Drury and Westwood aimed for a standardized, almost formulaic mode of observation. This repetition also hints at the limitations of language: the same terms are reused because the insects themselves share similar patterns.

Movement Between Specimen and Plate

The text frequently gestures toward the plates, as in “Plate XXXVIII, fig. 2,” but the descriptions themselves are not mere captions. They guide the reader’s eye across the insect’s body in a deliberate sequence: from antennae to eyes, thorax, abdomen, then wings. This top-to-bottom, front-to-back movement mimics the act of examining a pinned specimen. Yet the plates are not referenced in the body of the description; instead, the text stands alone as a verbal diagram. The relationship between word and image is complementary but not redundant—the description supplies details (like “two small white spots on the neck”) that the plate may not clearly show, while the plate provides color and form that words can only approximate.

The Editor’s Hand: Westwood’s Systematic Additions

J. O. Westwood’s editorial role is evident in the systematic headings added to each entry: Order, Section, Family, Genus, and synonyms. These taxonomic labels impose a Linnaean framework on Drury’s original descriptions, which were more loosely organized. For example, Heliconia Sappho is placed in the family Heliconiidæ, a classification that postdates Drury’s first edition. Westwood also includes Latin diagnoses and references to Fabricius, Cramer, and other authors. This layering of historical and contemporary taxonomy creates a palimpsest effect: the reader sees both Drury’s 18th-century observations and Westwood’s 19th-century science. The result is a volume that documents not only exotic insects but also the evolving practice of entomology itself.

Readers approaching this volume should attend to the interplay between the upper and under side descriptions, noting how the same insect can appear dramatically different when viewed from below. The recurring visual motifs—spots, bands, borders—reward comparative reading across entries. Westwood’s taxonomic additions provide a useful framework, but Drury’s original voice, with its careful attention to minute details, remains the heart of the work. Treat the plates and text as complementary records of a single specimen, each incomplete without the other.

Reading Drury’s careful notes about moving a specimen from pin to plate, I remembered how quietly companionable such precision can feel. It’s like watching someone close a cabinet door after coaxing a moth into light. That same gentle patience lingers in Insect Adventures — Reading Companion, where observation becomes a kind of friendship, unhurried and soft.