INTRODUCTION. 19 



seem too nearly to resemble the true Hemiptera to warrant the 

 separation. 



Burmeister, a Prussian naturalist, has subdivided the Neu- 

 roptera into the orders Neuroptera and Dictyotoptera, 

 the latter to include the species which undergo only a par- 

 tial transformation. If Hemiptera is to be subdivided, as above 

 mentioned, then this division of Neuroptera will be justifiable 

 also. 



Objections have often been raised against the study of natural 

 history, and many persons have been discouraged from attempting 

 it, on account of the formidable array of scientific names and 

 terms, which it presents to the beginner ; and some men of mean 

 and contracted minds have made themselves merry at the expense 

 of naturalists, and have sought to bring the writings of the latter 

 into contempt, because of the scientific language and names they 

 were obliged to employ. Entomology, or the science that treats 

 of insects, abounds in such names more than any other branch of 

 natural history ; for the different kinds of insects very far outnum- 

 ber the species in every class of the animal, vegetable, and min- 

 eral kingdoms. It is owing to this excessive number of species, 

 and to the small size, and unobtrusive character of many insects, 

 that comparatively very few have received any common names, 

 either in our own, or in other modern tongues ; and hence most 

 of those that have been described in works of natural history, are 

 known only by their scientific names. The latter have the ad- 

 vantage over other names in being intelligible to all well-educated 

 persons in all parts of the world ; while the common names of 

 animals and plants in our own and other modern languages are 

 very limited in their application, and moreover are often misap- 

 plied. For example, the name weevil is given, in this country, 

 to at least six different kinds of insects, two of which are moths, 

 two are flies, and two are beetles. Moreover, since nearly four 

 thousand species of weevils have actually been scientifically 

 named and described, when mention is made of " the weevil", it 

 may well be a subject of doubt to which of these four thousand 

 species the speaker or writer intends to refer ; whereas, if the 

 scientific name of the species in question were made known, this 

 doubt would at once be removed. To give to each of these 



