The English naturalist William C. Hewitson (1806-78) was trained as a surveyor, but various good fortunes enabled him to retire at an early age and devote his attention to the pursuit of natural history. His chief interests were entomology and ornithology, the classic British Oology (183342) being his major contribution to the latter field

Wilkinson, Ronald S.

English

Valparaiso University

The Great Lakes Entomologist Volume 6 Number 3 -- Fall 1973 Number 3 -- Fall 1973 Article 4 August 2017 Hewitson on Butterflies 1867-1877. William C. Hewitson. Hampton, Middlesex: E. W. Classey, 1972. [246] pp; various paginations. $12.50. Distributed exclusively in North America by Entomological Reprint Specialists, Los Angeles, California. Ronald S. Wilkinson The Library of Congress Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle  Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Wilkinson, Ronald S. 2017. "Hewitson on Butterflies 1867-1877. William C. Hewitson. Hampton, Middlesex: E. W. Classey, 1972. [246] pp; various paginations. $12.50. Distributed exclusively in North America by Entomological Reprint Specialists, Los Angeles, California.," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 6 (3) Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol6/iss3/4 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Biology at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Great Lakes Entomologist by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at scholar@valpo.edu. 1973 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 95 BOOK REVIEWS HEWITSON ON BUTTERFLIES 1867-1877. William C. Hewitson. Hampton, Middlesex: E. W. Classey, 1972. [246] pp; various paginations. $12.50. Distributed exclusively in North America by Entomological Reprint Specialists, Los Angeles, California. The English naturalist William C. Hewitson (1806-78) was trained as a surveyor, but various good fortunes enabled him to  retire at  an early age and devote his attention to  the pursuit of natural history. His chief interests were entomology and ornithology, the classic British Oology (183342) being his major contribution to  the latter field. Hewitson's publications on the Lepidoptera were numerous. His wealth allowed him to purchase large numbers of specimens, and he is said once to  have paid three hundred and fifty guineas, an enormous sum at the time, for a single butterfly. In the tradition of James Petiver and Dru Drury, he urged persons to  collect for him in various parts of the globe, and supported their efforts with ample financial reward. Hewitson was thus able to  build an unparalleled private collection of diurnal Lepidoptera, and spent a great amount of his time in describing and illustrating new and rare species. He was, however, largely a "closet naturalist." J. W. Dunning's obituary in The Ento- mologist (1878:11, 166-68) admitted that Hewitson's writings "contain little on the habits of the Rhopalocera he figured, little on classification or distribution.. . . For these reasons he cannot be placed in the first rank of entomologists; and in truth he never aimed to  be more than a describer and faithful depicter of species discovered by others. . . . His figures, admirable as they are, are the figures of so many butterflies taken out of a drawer,-all wings, set out with provoking uniformity, no leg or palpus visible, no details of structure, without any idea of life: they seem to  tell their own tale that they were painted by one who had never seen them in their native haunts, who knew them only as cabinet specimens." However, Hewitson's illustrations, especially those he furnished for The Genera o f  Diurnal Lepidoptera (1846-52) by Edward Doubleday and John 0. Westwood, and those in his own Illustrations of  Exotic Butterflies (1852-77), contributed greatly to  his reputation in the nineteenth century. Hewitson's collections, presented to the nation, are in the British Museum (Natural History). The present volume, another in E. W. Classey's reprint series of scarce entomological yorks, contains facsimiles of four of Hewitson's efforts, chiefly on tropical butterflies. These are Descriptions of One Hundred New Species o f  Hesperidae (1867-68); Descriptions of Some New Species of Lycaenidae (1868); Equatorial Lepidoptera Collected b y  Mr. Buckley (1869-77), and Bolivian Butterflies Collected by  Mr. Buckley (1874). All can be considered rare, and as they contain over four hundred species descriptions, there is surely ample justification for a reprint edition. (Scholarly justification does not always seem to  con- cern some reprint publishers, who too often are led by the lure of profits in this booming field to reissue volumes which might catch the eye of order librarians at  universities, but which have little real value to research workers. The practice has led to  lengthy lists of "available" titles which, often, could be more wisely purchased at lower prices in the second- hand book market, if indeed they should be purchased at all. Thankfully, the few publishers who produce entomological reprints have chosen their lists according to  the sound criteria of value and scarcity, and E. W. Classey is an example for reprinters in other fields to emulate.) Hewitson on Butterflies is attractive and sturdy, and if the price seems high for the size, that is explained by the economics of specialized publishing; restricted sales mean small press runs and resulting higher cost per volume. There is a brief preface by L. G. Higgins which contains much useful information, but does not satisfy in all respects. There is precious little about Hewitson's life in it, and although that could be excused by the need for economy of space, we should expect at  least the year of his birth, which can only be inferred from a statement that at the age of forty he became associated with Doubleday in the Genera (1846-52). TitIes of separate works mentioned in the preface are given inconsistently, either set off by quotation m a ~ k s  or not differentiated a t  all; never are they in italics as one would expect them to  be, although italics were available to  the typesetter. The repeated use of "etc." in the preface is somewhat jarring. Although 1Wilkinson: Hewitson on ButterfliesPublished by ValpoScholar, 20179 6 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGlST Vol. 6, No. 3 half of the volume is devoted to publications on Buckley's specimens, Hewitson's tireless, efficient and colorful collector is not discussed in the preface; we are not even given his fust name (it was Clarence). Finally, a note indicating biographical and bibliographical sources would have aided the reader who might wish to  know more about Hewitson. Ronald S. Wflkinson The Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 20540 THE CADDIS FLIES, OR TRICHOPTERA, OF lLLlNOlS (1944). Herbert H. Ross, illus- trated by C. 0. Mohr, K. M. Sommerman, and the author. Entomological Reprint Special- ists, Los Angeles, California, 1972. 8 unnumbered pages plus pp. 1-326, figures 1-961 plus frontispiece. Bound, $9.95. After its initial appearance in August, 1944, as Bulletin of the Illinois Natural History Survey, Vol. 23, Art. I ,  this work quickly became a classic. With the passage of time it has continued to gain in stature. The great expansion of interest in the Trichoptera, to which Dr. Ross calls attention in his preface to the reprint edition, has been stimulated to a sig- nificant degree, by The Caddis Flies of Illinois. Although the value of the bulletin to the systematic entomologist is obvious, much of its usefulness is to the student of aquatic ecosystems who, while often without training in insect taxonomy, iiids the accuracy and clarity of Ross's figures and descriptions intelligi- ble. A generation of fishery biologists and water quality specialists has come to rely on them. A helpful feature of the reprint edition is Ross's listing, in the prefatory note, of names of some of the world's Inore actively publishing trichopterists, and the citation of Fisher's bulky, still ongoing Trichopterorum Catalogus. These references will assist the serious student in bridging the three-decade time gap. Entornological Reprint Specialists is to be commended for making this work o n e  more readily available. Appearing, as it does, in hard binding, the price is reasonable. Justin W. Leonard School of Natural Resources and Museum of Zoology The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 2The Great Lakes Entomologist, Vol. 6, No. 3 [2017], Art. 4https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol6/iss3/4

Hewitson on Butterflies 1867-1877. William C. Hewitson. Hampton, Middlesex: E. W. Classey, 1972. [246] pp; various paginations. $12.50. Distributed exclusively in North America by Entomological Reprint Specialists, Los Angeles, California.

Ronald S. Wilkinson

Crossref

ValpoScholar

The Great Lakes Entomologist 
Volume 6 
Number 3 -- Fall 1973 Number 3 -- Fall 1973 Article 4 
August 2017 
Hewitson on Butterflies 1867-1877. William C. Hewitson. 
Hampton, Middlesex: E. W. Classey, 1972. [246] pp; various 
paginations. $12.50. Distributed exclusively in North America by 
Entomological Reprint Specialists, Los Angeles, California. 
Ronald S. Wilkinson 
The Library of Congress 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle 
 Part of the Entomology Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Wilkinson, Ronald S. 2017. "Hewitson on Butterflies 1867-1877. William C. Hewitson. Hampton, 
Middlesex: E. W. Classey, 1972. [246] pp; various paginations. $12.50. Distributed exclusively in North 
America by Entomological Reprint Specialists, Los Angeles, California.," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 
6 (3) 
Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol6/iss3/4 
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Biology at ValpoScholar. It has 
been accepted for inclusion in The Great Lakes Entomologist by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For 
more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at scholar@valpo.edu. 
1973 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGIST 95 
BOOK REVIEWS 
HEWITSON ON BUTTERFLIES 1867-1877. William C. Hewitson. Hampton, Middlesex: 
E. W. Classey, 1972. [246] pp; various paginations. $12.50. Distributed exclusively in 
North America by Entomological Reprint Specialists, Los Angeles, California. 
The English naturalist William C. Hewitson (1806-78) was trained as a surveyor, but 
various good fortunes enabled him to  retire at  an early age and devote his attention to  
the pursuit of natural history. His chief interests were entomology and ornithology, the 
classic British Oology (183342) being his major contribution to  the latter field. 
Hewitson's publications on the Lepidoptera were numerous. His wealth allowed him 
to purchase large numbers of specimens, and he is said once to  have paid three hundred 
and fifty guineas, an enormous sum at the time, for a single butterfly. In the tradition 
of James Petiver and Dru Drury, he urged persons to  collect for him in various parts of 
the globe, and supported their efforts with ample financial reward. Hewitson was thus 
able to  build an unparalleled private collection of diurnal Lepidoptera, and spent a great 
amount of his time in describing and illustrating new and rare species. 
He was, however, largely a "closet naturalist." J. W. Dunning's obituary in The Ento- 
mologist (1878:11, 166-68) admitted that Hewitson's writings "contain little on the 
habits of the Rhopalocera he figured, little on classification or distribution.. . . For these 
reasons he cannot be placed in the first rank of entomologists; and in truth he never 
aimed to  be more than a describer and faithful depicter of species discovered by 
others. . . . His figures, admirable as they are, are the figures of so many butterflies taken 
out of a drawer,-all wings, set out with provoking uniformity, no leg or palpus visible, no 
details of structure, without any idea of life: they seem to  tell their own tale that they 
were painted by one who had never seen them in their native haunts, who knew them 
only as cabinet specimens." However, Hewitson's illustrations, especially those he 
furnished for The Genera o f  Diurnal Lepidoptera (1846-52) by Edward Doubleday and 
John 0. Westwood, and those in his own Illustrations of  Exotic Butterflies (1852-77), 
contributed greatly to  his reputation in the nineteenth century. Hewitson's collections, 
presented to the nation, are in the British Museum (Natural History). 
The present volume, another in E. W. Classey's reprint series of scarce entomological 
yorks, contains facsimiles of four of Hewitson's efforts, chiefly on tropical butterflies. 
These are Descriptions of One Hundred New Species o f  Hesperidae (1867-68); Descriptions 
of Some New Species of Lycaenidae (1868); Equatorial Lepidoptera Collected b y  Mr. 
Buckley (1869-77), and Bolivian Butterflies Collected by  Mr. Buckley (1874). All can be 
considered rare, and as they contain over four hundred species descriptions, there is surely 
ample justification for a reprint edition. (Scholarly justification does not always seem to  con- 
cern some reprint publishers, who too often are led by the lure of profits in this booming 
field to reissue volumes which might catch the eye of order librarians at  universities, but 
which have little real value to research workers. The practice has led to  lengthy lists of 
"available" titles which, often, could be more wisely purchased at lower prices in the second- 
hand book market, if indeed they should be purchased at all. Thankfully, the few publishers 
who produce entomological reprints have chosen their lists according to  the sound criteria of 
value and scarcity, and E. W. Classey is an example for reprinters in other fields to emulate.) 
Hewitson on Butterflies is attractive and sturdy, and if the price seems high for the 
size, that is explained by the economics of specialized publishing; restricted sales mean 
small press runs and resulting higher cost per volume. There is a brief preface by L. G. 
Higgins which contains much useful information, but does not satisfy in all respects. 
There is precious little about Hewitson's life in it, and although that could be excused by 
the need for economy of space, we should expect at  least the year of his birth, which 
can only be inferred from a statement that at the age of forty he became associated with 
Doubleday in the Genera (1846-52). TitIes of separate works mentioned in the preface 
are given inconsistently, either set off by quotation m a ~ k s  or not differentiated a t  all; 
never are they in italics as one would expect them to  be, although italics were available to  
the typesetter. The repeated use of "etc." in the preface is somewhat jarring. Although 
1
Wilkinson: Hewitson on Butterflies
Published by ValpoScholar, 2017
9 6 THE GREAT LAKES ENTOMOLOGlST Vol. 6, No. 3 
half of the volume is devoted to publications on Buckley's specimens, Hewitson's tireless, 
efficient and colorful collector is not discussed in the preface; we are not even given his 
fust name (it was Clarence). Finally, a note indicating biographical and bibliographical 
sources would have aided the reader who might wish to  know more about Hewitson. 
Ronald S. Wflkinson 
The Library of Congress 
Washington, D.C. 20540 
THE CADDIS FLIES, OR TRICHOPTERA, OF lLLlNOlS (1944). Herbert H. Ross, illus- 
trated by C. 0. Mohr, K. M. Sommerman, and the author. Entomological Reprint Special- 
ists, Los Angeles, California, 1972. 8 unnumbered pages plus pp. 1-326, figures 1-961 plus 
frontispiece. Bound, $9.95. 
After its initial appearance in August, 1944, as Bulletin of the Illinois Natural History 
Survey, Vol. 23, Art. I ,  this work quickly became a classic. With the passage of time it has 
continued to gain in stature. The great expansion of interest in the Trichoptera, to which 
Dr. Ross calls attention in his preface to the reprint edition, has been stimulated to a sig- 
nificant degree, by The Caddis Flies of Illinois. 
Although the value of the bulletin to the systematic entomologist is obvious, much of 
its usefulness is to the student of aquatic ecosystems who, while often without training in 
insect taxonomy, iiids the accuracy and clarity of Ross's figures and descriptions intelligi- 
ble. A generation of fishery biologists and water quality specialists has come to rely on 
them. 
A helpful feature of the reprint edition is Ross's listing, in the prefatory note, of names 
of some of the world's Inore actively publishing trichopterists, and the citation of 
Fisher's bulky, still ongoing Trichopterorum Catalogus. These references will assist the 
serious student in bridging the three-decade time gap. 
Entornological Reprint Specialists is to be commended for making this work o n e  more 
readily available. Appearing, as it does, in hard binding, the price is reasonable. 
Justin W. Leonard 
School of Natural Resources 
and Museum of Zoology 
The University of Michigan 
Ann Arbor, Michigan 
2
The Great Lakes Entomologist, Vol. 6, No. 3 [2017], Art. 4
https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol6/iss3/4


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Hewitson on Butterflies 1867-1877. William C. Hewitson. Hampton, Middlesex: E. W. Classey, 1972. [246] pp; various paginations. $12.50. Distributed exclusively in North America by Entomological Reprint Specialists, Los Angeles, California.

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