INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. H 



imperfect, had been laid. In Charleton's Onomas- 

 ticon Zoicon, a work of merit for the time, a distinct 

 existence is given to those insects destitute of 

 Elytra, which construct combs, denominated "/w- 

 sectorum aviXvTCiMv favificantium classis" {in) . This 

 definition, imperfect as it is, for it excludes the 

 major part of genuine Hymenopterous msects, pos- 

 sesses this merit, that it admits none that do not 

 belong to that class. Ray, whose indefatigable 

 exertions brought copious and bright accessions of 

 genuine light to every branch of natural history, 

 sensible of the deficiency of the old method, has 

 elaborated this class with considerable care, ex- 

 tending indeed its limits too far, so as to include 

 most of the present Neuropterous Genera ; but at 

 the same time taking in all the genuine Hymenop- 

 tera; and thus laying the foundation, with few 

 alterations, for an appropriate and discriminative 

 character of it. The following are the alterations 

 that he has introduced. He puts into one sub- 

 division, under the title of Tetraptera, all such 

 insects, with four membranaceous wings, as are 

 quiescent in their intermediate state, thus arranged: 



(m) Onom. Zoic. p. 36. I quote this author because I have 

 him at hand, and he professes to combine the information to be 

 found scattered in the works of preceding natui-alists. He bor- 

 jow^ his method from Aldrovandus , Vid, Praef, p. 10. 



TfTp«7rT.-p^ 



