131 MODIiUN SYSTF.M. 



Class V. INSEeTA. 



Hisfori/. — IxsECTA, so named from in (into) and 5ffo(tocut). This 

 lerm was applied to those animals hy the Latins; by the Greeks they 

 were named Entoma (IVrOj^a), from av, lido, and tsij.'/m, to cut. In- 

 sects were so named, because their bodies are composed of many 

 joints or segments ; on which account several of the ancient and oldc r 

 naturalists placed them with the classes Crustacea, Mj/riapoda, AracL- 

 noida, and Vermes. 



The oldest records on this subject are to be found in the sacred 

 writings, where mention is made of locusts, flies, and caterpillars ; and 

 it is probable that Moses had acquired some knowledge of insccis 

 from the Egyptian sages, as his writings abound with passages relating 

 to insects. 



Hippocrates, as we are told by Pliny, wrote on insects; and tl':' 

 writings of the earlier Greek and Latin philosophers, quoted by Pliny, 

 afford extracts of his labours. 



Aristotle, in liis Histo?// of Animals, has devoted a very considerable 

 portion of his attention to insects, and has described their general 

 external structure with groat accuracy. 



Aldrovandus, in 100'.', published a very voluminous work, Dc Ani- 

 malibus Insectis, in which he divides insects into Terrestrial and Aqua- 

 tic. 



In 1612, Wolfgang Frantzius ^n\Ah\KA Ristoria Animalinm Sacra, 

 which contains some new observations, and a distribution of insccis 

 into Aerial, Aquatic, and Tcrrcstriul. 



Swannnerdam, who published his Historia Inscctorum Gcncralis in 

 16(39, divided genuine insects into, 1st, Those which, after leaving the 

 ^'SS) fippcar under the form of the perfect insect, but have no wings, 

 which parts are afterwards produced : 2dly, Those insects which aji- 

 pear, when hatched from the eggs, under the Ibrm of a larva, and, 

 when full grown, change into a chrysalis, where it remains imtil its 

 parts arc fit to be developed : 3dly, Those which, having attained the 

 pupa (chrysalis or nympha) state, do not divest themselves of their 

 skin. His other divisions refer to animals of the classes Arachndida, 

 Crustacea, and Jh/riapoda; and the whole of his work contains much 

 valuable observation on the structure and economy of these animals. 



In 1735, Linne published the first edition of his Spstema Naturw, 

 sive Regiia tria Natarre si/stematicc proposita per Classes, Ordiiics, Genera, 

 et Species, in which work Insects are distributed into four Orders, ac- 

 cording to the Qumber and form of their wings: 1. Coleopter.\ ; 

 2. ANGioprERA; li. IIemipteua ; 4. Ai'tera. 



With the last Order he included Crustacea, Araclmides, Mj/riapoda, 

 Vermes, and certain Zoophjtes; but in subsequent editions of this work 



