peters' handbook of zoology. 31 



geograpliical and geological distribution of animals, scarcely receive 

 more than a passing mention. 



The volume before us, which constitutes the second volume of the 

 book, includes those animals which formed the sub-kingdoms, An- 

 nulosa and Eadiata, in the Cuvierian system ; the Vertebrata and 

 MoUusca being postponed until the publication of the first volume. 

 The authors of this present volume, Dr. Gerstaecker and Professor 

 J. y. Carus, divide these animals into five groups, of which the first 

 alone, that of the Arthropoda, has been consigned to the treatment 

 of the former gentleman. This group is divided into the usual four 

 classes, Insecta, Myriapoda, Arachnida, and Crustacea, and the 

 description of the characters of these and of their subordinate groups 

 occupies considerably more than half the volume. 



The classification of the Insecta will present some appearance of 

 novelty to the English Entomologist, as it is in accordance with the 

 views generally entertained by the more advanced German school. 

 The Apterous, or so-called Ametabolous orders are got rid of alto- 

 gether, being amalgamated, as originally proposed by Burmeister, 

 with other recognised groups ; the Strepsiptera are referred to the 

 order Neuroptera, and the whole series of insects is thus made to 

 consist of seven orders. But the most striking change to our insular 

 prejudices consists in the peculiar limitation of the first two orders 

 in Dr. Gerstaecker's classification, — the Orthoptera and Neuroptera. 

 The former group includes the whole of the Insecta with an imper- 

 fect metamorphosis and biting oral organs ; so that besides the 

 ordinary Orthoptera, in Latreille*s sense, we have as members of this 

 great order the Termites, Psoci, Perlidcd, I^pliemerida:, Dragon-flies, 

 and Physopoda among winged insects, and the Thysanura among the 

 apterous forms. The latter ought certainly to have been accom- 

 panied by the Mallophaga, or Mandibulate Lice, but the author has 

 chosen to place them with the true Lice under the Hemipterous 

 order, being induced to take this course by the supposed near 

 alliance existing between the two gi'oups, and because, as he says, by 

 '* their reversion to the Orthoptera, they close the circle of the Insect- 

 Orders" (p. 287). It seems to us that the latter purpose would have 

 been equally well served by placing these curious parasites in their 

 natural position among the Orthoptera, and their alliance to the 

 Pediculina appears to be one chiefly of gen-eral appearance and mode 

 of life. 



The order Neuroptera, deprived of all the groups with an imperfect 



