462 Stephens*s British Entomology, 



8. Hymendptera, — All the wings membranaceous, venose, 

 and naked ; as in Fespa, the wasp. 



II. Haustella^ta (with a sucker). 



1 3. Hemiptera. — Wings four, not scaly ; body depressed ; 

 as in Cimex, the plant-bug. 



14. Homoptera, — Wings four, not scaly; body elevated ; 

 as in A^phis, the plant-louse. 



8. Lepidoptera, — Wings four ; scales imbricated ; as in 

 Papilio, the butterfly, and Sphinx, the hawk-moth. 



9. Diptera. — Wings two ; head distinct ; as in Musca, the 

 fly. 



10. Homaloptera. — Wings two; head sessile; as in Hip- 

 pobosca, the forest-fly. 



11. Aphaniptera, — Wings none; body compressed; as in 

 Pulex, the common flea. 



' 12. A'ptera, — Wings none ; body depressed ; as in Lepisma, 

 and Pediculus, the louse. 



This sketch, slight as it is, will enable our readers, with a 

 very little attention, to class any insect with which they happen 

 to meet; but for ample, clear and scientific descriptions of the 

 genera, species, and varieties, recourse must be had to the 

 work itself. It is but justice, however, to Mr. Stephens to add, 

 that he has by no means limited himself to a mere description 

 of insects. He has in many cases entered minutely into their 

 economy, and into details connected with utility. Speaking, 

 for example, of the larvae of the Adephaga of Clairville, a 

 section of the order Coleoptera, he says : — 



" They voraciously devour worms and the larvae of all other 

 insects, as well as perfect insects ; though the larvae of Zabrus 

 gibbus are said to destroy young wheat, and a long account of 

 their devastations, in the canton of Seeburg, near Halle, in 

 Germany, is given in the first volume of Germar's Magazine 

 der Entomologie, wherein it is stated, that they were accompanied 

 with a large proportion of the herbivorous larvae of ikfelolon- 

 tha ruficornis. May not," Mr. Stephens adds in a note, " these 

 herbivorous larvae have been the principal cause of the mis- 

 chief to the wheat, while those of the Zabrus contributed rather 

 to lessen their numbers than to destroy the corn." (vol. i. p. 4.) 



'' And is it not probable that the perfect insects ascend the 

 corn for the purpose of devouring the parasite insects thereon ? 

 This is a subject that requires investigation, as it is highly 

 important for the interests of the agriculturists, in those dis- 

 tricts where the insect abounds (as at Worthing, Brighton, 

 Hastings, Cambridge), that the question should be thoroughly 

 set at rest ; because, should the Zabri depart from the habits 



