80 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



New York Entomological Society. 



IN MEMORY OF CAROLUS LINN^US, 1707-1778. 



The name of Linnseus, the illustrious naturalist who first pointed out 

 the real utility of some system by which the great kingdoms of nature could 

 be systematically arranged, is known to the whole civilized world. 



Linnseus was not only a naturalist of most accurate observation, but of a 

 philosophical mind, and upon this depended in a great degree the unpar- 

 alleled influence which he exercised upon the progress of every branch of 

 natural history. 



If we consider the difficulties which beset his early scientific career, the 

 limited number of collections of animals and plants at his command, we must 

 admit that the merit which his contemporaries awarded him was very 

 justly earned. 



Among the important services which he rendered to science was the 

 creation of a natural system of classification and the introduction of a more 

 precise nomenclature, which in the main is followed to-day. 



While quite young he received his first inspiration for natural history 

 in his father's garden, A\'hich was planted with many rare shrubs and flowers. 

 Those sparks which were kindled in the early part of his life at last burst 

 into such a flame of intensity, that the marks are indelibly left upon the 

 sciences. 



Entomology owes much to the work of this great man. 



In his "Systema Naturae" (tenth edition), he divided the insects into 

 seven orders, as follows : Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Ncuroptera, 

 Hymenoptera, Diptera and Aptera. 



The modern orders Forficulidae and Orthoptera were placed with the 

 Coleoptera; the order Thysanoptera, with the Hemiptera. The order 

 Neuroptera included the modern orders Ephemerida, Plecoptera, Isoptera, 

 Corrodentia, Platyptera, Neuroptera, Mecoptera, Trichoptera and Odonata. 

 The order Aptera contained all the insects without wings or elytra, except 

 the females of Mutillidse, including also those arthropods which form to-day 

 the classes of Arachnida and Myriapoda. Each order contained a small 

 number of genera which were not arranged into families. 



Of the many insects described by him, about three liundred species 

 occur in the United States, most of which were originally described from 

 Europe, and some from South America. Of the different orders repre- 

 sented, Linnseus described seven species of Neuroptera, four species of 

 Odonata, twelve species of Orthoptera, twenty-seven species of Hemiptera, 



