38 



Art. II. — Analytical Notice of the 129^^ Volume of Lardner's Ca- 

 binet Cyclopcedia, entitled ' On the History and Natural Ar- 

 rangement of Insects: ' By William Swainson, A.C.G., F.R.S. 

 & L.S., Hon. F.C.P.S., and of several Foreign Societies ; and 

 W. E. Shuckard, Lib. R.S., &c. 



The object of this abstruse volume is to show the applicability of 

 Mr. Swainson's peculiar views of natural arrangement to that portion 

 of the Animal Kingdom which contains the animals commonly called 

 insects. I presume it is pretty generally known to the readers of the 

 * Entomologist,' that Mr. Swainson has invented a system of his own, 

 resembling, as regards numerical division, the MacLeayian or quina- 

 rian, but diifering therefrom inasmuch as the five groups are chai'ac- 

 terized as being one typical, one subtypical, and th7^ee aberrant ; the 

 three aberrant groups combined being considered of equal value with 

 the typical or subtypical taken separately; thus the division is ternary 

 in theory, quinary in application. It will probably be recollected 

 that MacLeay divided the animal kingdom into five classes : — Verte- 

 brata, Annulosa, Radiata, Acrita and Mollusca. He then subdivided 

 the Annulosa into five orders, — Mandibulata, Haustellata, Arachnida, 

 Crustacea and Ametabola, the last group containing the Myriapoda, 

 Anoplura, Thysanura and Vermes ; the Mandibulata were again di- 

 vided into 



1. Coleoptera, 



2. Oitlioptera, 



3. Neuroptera, 



4. Trichoptera, 



5. Hymenoptera : 



and the Haustellata into 



1. Lepidoptera, 



2. Homoptera, 



3. Hemiptera, 



4. Aptera, 



6. Diptera. 



1 will now endeavour to show the views entertained by Messrs. 

 Swainson and Shuckard on the subject, by extracting, as nearly as I 

 can, in a tabular form, the divisions which they propose ; first pre- 

 mising that they divide the Annulosa into Aptera, Ptilota, Annelides, 

 Vermes and Cirrhipedes, and that the present volume treats only of the 

 Aptera and Ptilota. 



