40 



CLASS II. APTERA. 



Order I. Arachnida. 



II. Myriapoda. 



III. Crustacea. 



IV. SUCTORIA. 



V. DiPTERA. 



A glance at this arrangement will convince the reader that no charge 

 of plagiarism can possibly be brought against its authors : those who 

 were inclined to suppose that in adopting the magical number of 

 MacLeay, they were following somewhat too closely in his footsteps, 

 will be eager to retract the ungenerous thought : nothing can be more 

 widely different than the two systems before us. If the views of Messrs. 

 Swainson and Shuckard display the slightest approach to nature, then 

 are those of Mr. MacLeay the most distorted, wild and unnatural : 

 there is no point of similarity between the systems except the frequent 

 recurrence of the number five. The bold alteration made by the au- 

 thors in separating the Diptera from the winged insects, is the most 

 striking feature in the new arrangement ; it proves them to be profound 

 and original thinkers, and not only this, it displays an indifference 

 to the opinions of others, which must b« the result of the mens conncia 

 recti. 



There are several other bold and original ideas which require the 

 deep consideration of entomologists. In Lepidoptera, the Tortricidae 

 and Tineidae, the larvae of which have ten prolegs, are arranged as 

 families of the Geometrides or loopers, distinguished by the posses- 

 sion of four prolegs only. In Hemiptera we find the Nepidae consi- 

 dered a family of Cimicides, and the Notonectidae a family of the Ci- 

 cadides, and Thrips is placed as a genus of Aphides. In Coleoptera 

 I observe that the beautiful group comprising the genera Buprestis 

 and Elater is considered a family of Lamellicorns, an arrangement 

 which seems to strike me as peculiarly curious and novel. In Neu- 

 roptera the whole of Orthoptera are ingeniously treated as a family 

 equivalent to the Libellulidse ; the Ephemerinae, Hemerobiinaj, Perli- 

 na? and Psocinse are made subfamilies of Phryganida? ; and the genus 

 Stylops is raised to the rank of a Neuropterous family : its precise si- 

 milarity to the typical Neuroptera is not pointed out. 



I have been led from its title to assign the merits of this volume 

 conjointly to Messrs. Swainson and Shuckard, and have been treating 

 them like the Siamese twins, as inseparables in fame ; but fairness 

 compels me to add that the system of class iji cat ion is entirely Mr. 

 Swainsonh : Mr. Shuckard has most ingenuously disavowed any 



