A guide to the arrangement of British insects is a seminal work of entomology

Entomology

Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...

. A monumental piece of work with over 10,000 insect names it was intended for the author's own use, but pressure for publication grew until it appeared in 1829. Uniquely for its time, all insect orders were included. A second was published in 1837.

Six pages of introductory matter are followed by 282 columns of insect names in two columns per page systematically arranged and followed by an index to genera. This work attributed to John Curtis

John Curtis (entomologist)

John Curtis was an English entomologist and illustrator.-Biography:Curtis was born in Norwich and learned his engraving skills in the workshop of his father, Charles Morgan Curtis...

 was in fact co-authored by James Charles Dale

James Charles Dale

James Charles Dale was a wealthy English naturalist who devoted almost all of his adult life to entomology.James Dale was the son of wealthy landowners. He received his education at Cambridge University receiving his MA in 1818...

, Francis Walker

Francis Walker (entomologist)

Francis Walker was an English entomologist. He was one of the most prolific authors in entomology, and stirred controversy during his later life as his publications resulted in a huge number of junior synonyms....

 and Alexander Henry Haliday

Alexander Henry Haliday

Alexander Henry Haliday, also known as Enrico Alessandro Haliday and Alexis Heinrich Haliday sometimes Halliday , was an Irish entomologist. He is primarily known for his work on Hymenoptera, Diptera and Thysanoptera, but Haliday worked on all insect orders and on many aspects of entomology.Haliday...

; Haliday and Walker writing almost the whole of the sections on Diptera and parasitic Hymenoptera. The list contains 1500 generic and 15,000 specific names. Ireland and Britain are not separated.

The full title is A guide to the arrangement of British insects being a catalogue of all the named species hitherto discovered in Great Britain and Ireland.The Guide had five purposes for entomologists

• 1st. It will enable them to arrange their Cabinets systematically.
• 2ndly. They may mark off their own Insects so as to know instantly whether they have a species or not, by which means

their desiderata will be shown ; and this the Author is persuaded will enable Students to enrich their Cabinets by mutual
exchanges to an extent which could not be accomplished by any other means.

• 3rdly. It will form Labels for Cabinets.
• 4thly. It will be a systematic Index to " The British Entomology
  British Entomology
  British Entomology is a classic work of entomology by John Curtis, F.L.S.Described as British Entomology, 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...
  
  ’’ a reference being given to every Genus already illustrated and may be easily continued by those who are desirous of completing it.
• 5thly. It will be a Catalogue of the Author's Cabinet those without a * being his desiderata and of those with a J he has only foreign specimens. The names in italics denote insects which are doubtful natives.

External Links

• BHL Digitised second edition