380 SYSTEM OF INSECTS. 
improper, and which ought to have been retained. Its 
present name was, I believe, assigned to it by Olivier ; 
and as this is generally in use, I shall not attempt to dis- 
turb it. Dr. Leach divided the Order into two, sepa- 
rating the Blattina from it, under the name of Dictyo- 
ptera a . He was led to this by the tegmina decussating 
or lapping obliquely over each other, whereas in the rest 
the horizontal portion of one tegmen lies longitudinally 
over that of the other ; he also probably took their de- 
pressed body into consideration ; — these circumstances, 
however, rather indicate a tribe or suborder; and as 
such Mr. MacLeay regards it. 
Def. Metamorphosis semicomplete. 
Legs suspended. 
Tegmina generally pergameneous b , reticulated 
with nervures, more or less incumbent, co- 
vering the wings. 
Wings longitudinally folded, ample : neuration 
reticulated. 
5. Neuroptera c (Synistata, Odonota F.). Of all 
the Linnean Orders this appears to consist of the most 
discordant tribes ; so that it seems next to impossible to 
construct a definition that will include them all, unless 
indeed we admit M. Latreille's idea, adopted by Mr. 
MacLeay d , that a varied metamorphosis is its essential 
character ; or, to speak more largely, variety itself seems 
the characteristic of the insects composing it, in every 
state; and there is scarcely a common distinctive charac- 
ter in their perfect state, upon detecting which in any in- 
1 From oiktvov, a net. b Sec above, p. 2G6. 
c From viv^nv, a nerve. '' Hor. Entomolog. 433, 
