242 INSECT A. 



following orders compose the class of Insectes of the same au- 

 thor. That of the Suctoria, which only comprises the genus 

 Pulex, from its natural relations should apparently terminate 

 the class, but as I place those Insects which are apterous at the 

 beginning, this order, for the sake of regularity in the system, 

 should immediately follow that of the Parasita. 



Certain English naturalists have formed new orders, based 

 upon the wings ; I see no necessity, however, for admitting 

 them, that of the Stresiptera excepted, the name of which ap- 

 pears to me to be erroneous(l), and which I will call Rhip- 

 iptera(2). 



In the first order or the Myriapoda, there are more than 

 six feet twenty-four and upwards arranged along the whole 

 length of the body, on a suite of annuli, each of which bears 

 one or two pairs, and of which the first, and in several even 

 the second, seem to form a part of the mouth. They are ap- 

 terous^). 



In the second or the Thysaxoura, there are six legs, and 

 the abdomen is furnished on its sides with movable parts, in 

 the form of false feet, or terminated by appendages fitted for 

 leaping. 



In the third or the Parasita, we find six legs, no wings, 

 and no other organs of sight than ocelli ; the mouth, in a great 

 measure, is internal, and consists of a snout containing a re- 

 tractile sucker, or in a slit between two lips, with two hooked 

 mandibles. 



In the fourth or the Suctoria, there are six legs, but no 

 wings(4) \ the mouth is composed of a sucker inclosed in a 

 cylindrical sheath, formed of two articulated portions. 



In the fifth or the Coleoptera, there are six legs, and four 

 wings, the two superior of which have the form of cases, and 



(1) Twisted wings. The parts taken for elytra are not so. See this order. 



(2) Wings folded like a fan. 



(3) Destitute of wings and scutellum. 



(4) They undergo metamorphoses and acquire organs of locomotion which they 

 did not possess at first. This character is common to the following orders, but in 

 the latter the metamorphosis developes another sort of locomotive organs the 

 wings. 



