32 ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 



above punctured : antennae setaceo-filiform, with numerous short 

 hairs ; feet paler than the body ; posterior ones longer than the 

 others. 



Found under stones, &c. 



[From Vol. 2, part 2, 1822.] 



On a South American species of (Estrus which inhabits the human body. 



Read November 26th, 1822. 



Many of the objects of natural history described by Linnd are 

 at present, entirely unknown, notwithstanding the laborious and 

 ardent researches that have been made, by a multitude of ob- 

 servers, since the time of the great reformer. This may be in part 

 attributed to the great rarity of some of those objects, but it may 

 be supposed to be more particularly due to his habitual manner 

 of attempting to concentrate all the characters of a being, in the 

 comprehensive significancy of a few words. This excessive con- 

 ciseness, appears to have been intended to check or discountenance 

 a continuation of the habit of voluminous description, so freely 

 used by his predecessors ; but with due deference to his vast 

 and deserved reputation, be it said, that, in the attempt to intro- 

 duce a necessary reformation in this respect, that great naturalist 

 passed to the opposite extreme. 



In common with the greater number of naturalists of the present 

 day, I have very often felt the inconvenience of this imaginary 

 improvement and real detriment in zoology, and heartily wish 

 that brevity may be sacrificed to accuracy, as I am convinced 

 that however desirable every describer may, and, indeed, ought 

 to be, to represent the object before him in as few words as possi- 

 ble, he should, nevertheless, not hesitate to avail himself of as 

 many expletives as will in all probability obviously distinguish 

 his object [354] from others, regardless of the number of words 

 that may bo rcijuirod for this purpose. 



It is to be regretted that some very distinguished zoologists, 

 perceiving as they must this grand impediment to the determina- 

 tion of species, still, by their example, perpetuate and in- 

 crease this grievance, considering it sufficient for them to add to 

 a very laconic description, a reference to a cabinet in which the 



[Vol. II. 



