THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 369 



Variations in our few examples are slight; the pronotum is 

 arcuately subparallel on the sides for three-foutrhs the length or 

 more and constricted before the front margin, widest at or before 

 the middle; sometimes slightly more elongate than in the type. 



The types of these species are in the collection of the Entomo- 

 logical Branch, Ottawa. 



SOME OLD CLASSIFICATIONS OF INSECTS. 



BY HARRY B. WEISS, NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J. 



From the time of Aristotle to the present, different naturalists 

 have advanced and advocated various systematic arrangements of 

 insects. Many of the older ones were never generally adopted 

 and only a few in part hold good at the present day. Linnaeus 

 arranged insects in seven orders, but as entomologists became 

 more exacting, the number was gradually increased until thirty- 

 seven are now recognized as set forth in Brues and Melander's 

 "Key to the Families of North American Insects." 



It is not the purpose of this paper to deal with the history of 

 the various changes which have taken place, but simply to set 

 forth, as a matter of entomological interest, some of the systems 

 which were proposed several hundreds of years back. 



Aristotle's system. 



Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), Greek philosopher. 

 I. Winged insects {Pterota or Ptilota) 



1. With wing cases — beetles (Coleoptera) 



2. With coriaceous wings — grasshoppers {Pedetica) 



3. Without jaws — hngs {A stomata). 



4. With powdery wings — moths, butterflies {PsychcB). 

  . 5. With four transparent wings {l^etraptera). 



Without stings and larger — (dragon-fiies). 

 With stings^bees and wasps (Opisthocentra). 

 6. With two wings (Diptera). 



Without mouth-piercers and smaller — flies and crane-flies. 

 With mouth-piercers — gnats and gad-flies {Emprosthocentra) 



November, 1915. 



