156 PAPERS BY DE. B. CLEMENS. 



perhaps, to which we are unable to assign any significant 

 value, would it not be more scientific and convenient, more 

 natural and philosophic indeed, to regard such individuals as 

 forming a distinct group in the genus, to which they are 

 evidently so intimately related, regardless of peculiarities of 

 ornamentation ? 



What would be thought of that system in anthropography 

 which separated men of the same race upon a long or a short 

 nose, a large or small ear, thin or thick lips, or wide or nar- 

 row shoulders ? I am not prepared to assert, that a principle 

 like this has been introduced into the system which represents 

 the present arrangement of this family, but when one recalls 

 its comparative poverty in generic characters in the imago, 

 or otherwise the extremely close relationship indicated in the 

 diagnoses of many of its genera, the probability of something 

 similar to it having existence is at least suggested to the 

 mind. 



It would be well if Entomologists would cidtivate just and 

 philosophic conceptions respecting the nature of the various 

 groups at present recognized in our systems. No other 

 department, of Natural History offers, probably, equal facili- 

 ties for observation and determining with accuracy the limits 

 of generic and specific cycles. The mind however must be 

 disabused of the fallacious notion that the imago is the most 

 important part of species ; that it is, indeed, the species ; or 

 that classification can be truly and properly made on this 

 basis alone. Perfect insects are easily arranged systemati- 

 cally upon a consideration of their entire structure, its general 

 agreements and special differences, but there are considera- 

 tions more important than these involved in the idea of species. 



The " imago" is no more the species which it represents as 

 an individual, than the principal noun of a grammatical 

 sentence is the idea which may be conveyed to our mental 

 perceptions. Each is necessary to the other, each incomplete 

 without the other, and when a hiatus exists in either case, 

 we are placed simply in a region of conjecture, respecting 

 the significance connected with the representative presented 



