[211] 



^be pine IDeStrO^er {Hylurgus pmiperda). 

 By the Rev Hilderic Friend, F.L.S., Carlisle. 



Part 2. 



Historical. 



WE will now turn our attention to the history of the 

 particular genus and species under review. In almost 

 all researches of this kind one is continually being 

 baffled and confused by the multitude of different names which, 

 at various times, have been applied to the creatures under 

 investigation. This difficulty, of course, arises from two principal 

 causes. In the first place, the wTiter of a description may 

 suppose that he is pourtraying characters for the first time, and as 

 he is not aware that his insect has previously been studied, 

 described, and named, he at once manufactures a designation 

 which seems to him, for some reason or other, suited to the same. 

 Hence, many synonyms arise, each of which has a claim to 

 recognition. In course of time, however, when knowledge 

 increases, classification becomes necessary, and comprehensive 

 general terms must be invented which will bring together similar 

 forms of life from many quarters, and bearing many different 

 names. As different methods of classification are adopted 

 different names are employed, and thus a further multiplication of 

 terms ensues. The consequence is that in many cases modern 

 writers are compelled to quote the synonymous designations by 

 which the subject of their discourse is known among men of 

 science, just as the police use the alias of certain bipeds which 

 periodically pass through their hands. There are some objects in 

 nature whose position, operations, economy, or appearance are so 

 striking that a name seems to suggest itself immediately on 

 examination. There are others in which these points are so 

 obscure that a fertile imagination is needed to define them. 



In the case of the tiny beetle about which we are at present 

 concerned there is no obscurity. Its habits are easily understood, 

 and, as a consequence, the names which have been applied to it 

 usually set forth with sufficient clearness its leading characteristics. 

 There are no fewer than six specific names for this insect in the 



