48 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 



by aid of two words alone, every entomologist, though 

 in the most distant region — whether a Swede, a German, 

 or a Frenchman ; whether a native of Europe, of Asia, 

 of America, or of Africa, knows instantly the very species 

 that is meant, and can that moment ascertain whether it 

 be within his reach. If the species be new and unde- 

 scribed, it is only necessary to indicate the genus to 

 which it belongs, the species to which it is most nearly 

 allied, and to describe it in scientific terms, which may 

 be done in few words, and it can at once be recognised 

 by every one acquainted with the science. 



You will think it hardly credible that there should be 

 so much difficulty in describing an insect intelligibly with- 

 out the aid of system ; but an argumentum ad hominem, 

 supported by some other facts, will, I conjecture, render 

 this matter more comprehensible. You have doubtless, 

 like every one else, in the showery days of summer, felt 

 no little rage at ihejlies^ which at such times take the 

 liberty of biting our legs, and contrive to make a com- 

 fortable meal through the interstices of their silken or 

 cotton coverings. Did it, I pray, ever enter into your 

 conception, that these blood-thirsty tormentors are a dif- 

 ferent species from those flies which you are wont to see 

 extending the lips of their little proboscis to a piece of 

 sugar or a drop of wine? I dare say not. But the next 

 time you have sacrificed one of the former to your just 

 vengeance, catch one of the latter and compare them. I 

 question if, after the narrowest comparison, you will not 

 still venture a wager that they are the very same species. 

 Yet you would most certainly lose your bet. They are 

 not even of the same genus — one belonging to the genus 

 Musca {M. domestica), and the other to the genus Sto~ 



