236 



NEWMAN ON THE 



^ 



'K 



VII 



n 



^ 



V 



^ 



w 



By supposing the diagram to contain forty-nine individuals, 

 it will be evident that each individual must be related to at least 

 three others, and if central, to no less than six. The Roman 

 numerals express the seven typical or more perfect individuals, 

 VIL being most perfect of the whole; the arrows express six 

 other individuals around each type, each of them after its fashion 

 related to some other group to which the arrow is pointing. 



The arguments whence this view of the subject was deduced, 

 in the pages of " Sphinx Vespiformis," were expressed without 

 that attention to precision, or that reference to detail which 

 such a proposition obviously demands ; and I cannot feel sur- 

 prised that my opinions have made so little progress. I further 

 attempted, in that Essay, to show that the seven classes of 

 insects occupied places in the above diagram, corresponding 

 with the numerals now attached to them: I. Lepidoptera, 

 II. Diptera, III. Hymenoptera, IV. Coleoptera,V. Orthoptera, 

 VI. Hemiptera, and VII. Neuroptera. {See the diagram 

 opposite). 



The central position of the class Neuroptera implies its supe- 

 riority to the classes by which it is surrounded; but as this may 

 not be admitted by the whole of my readers, it would, perhaps, 

 have been the most courteous plan to have defined, at length, 

 the grounds on which I have imagined this superiority. As, 

 however, the space which an article of this kind necessarily 



