CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



Jf. horridus. — Hare. (F.) 



Hkinonchus 4i-tuberculatus. — Scarce. (F.) 



R. tibialis. — Rare. (Gr.) 



Bagous lutulentus. — Rare. (F.) 



Pachyrhinus A-dentatus. — Scarce. (F.) 



P. 4-tuberculatus, (4t-nodosus ? Ed.) — Hare. (Gr.) 



{To be continued.) 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



BY THE NOETHEBN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



At the last quarterly meeting of this Society the Secretary, rather ungra- 

 ciously we think, read a private letter from our friend, the Rev. J. Greene, 

 suggesting that their proceedings should be published in this Journal as well 

 as the "Zoologist;" a request which the meeting is reported in much the 

 same spirit to have declined. Now we apprehend that the only motive the 

 Editor of a Joxxrnal can have, in expressing a desire to publish these pro- 

 ceedings, is that of a desire to promulgate useful scientific information, and 

 to assist the praiseworthy efforts of a body like this in diffusing knowledge. 



If there is an obligation incurred on either side, we think it is almost 

 entirely on the part of the Society, as such reports are frequently very dry 

 reading, and occupy much space. As a proof of both these statements we 

 refer to the ten pages and a half of the report in the February number of 

 the "Zoologist." With the exception of the very useful paper on "Specific 

 Distinctions," by Mr. Constantine, which only occupies a couple of pages, we 

 do not see anything we should have been particularly anxious to publish. 

 The list of insects exhibited cannot have much interest to those who did 

 not see them; and the long paper by Mr. Cooke, on "Classification," as 

 inculcating most erroneous views upon the subject on which it treats, we 

 should think rather injurious than otherwise. We propose to take a short 

 notice of this paper. Mr. Cooke considers that all insects should be classed 

 according to their metamorphosis, and that the orders should be arranged, 

 to use his own words, so as to exhibit "a gradation from a hard-bodied, 

 strong, and well-defended insect, to a soft-bodied, weak, and defenceless one." 



No one, we believe, would deny, since the subject was handled by such 

 men as Leach, Oken, Mac Leay, and Burmeister, that the metamorphosis of 

 insects must form an important element in their classification. But we cer- 

 tainly little expected to find in these days any one attempting a system based 

 on this character alone. As Burmeister has well observed, — "We thus (by 

 the metamorphosis) obtain two chief groups among insects, which we distin- 

 guish as Insecta ametabola (imperfect metamorphosis) and metabola (perfect 

 metamorphosis.) Both commence a new development in the organization of 



the mouth Thus each group has Insecta haustellata and Insecta mandibula. 



Each of these groups may be farther subdivided, according to the form of 

 the larva, the structure of the wings, and the entire internal organization; 

 and these constitute their orders." 



VOL. VIII. N 



