456 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 
and scorpions; including amongst the former a group which he named 
Ploteres, which reside on the surface of the water. This binary ar- 
rangement has been adopted by most subsequent authors, including 
Burmeister. M. L. Dufour, however, considered the Ploteres as a group 
of equal rank with the other two sections, and which he accordingly 
named Amphibicorises ; whilst the Marquis Spinola, in his recently 
published essay upon these insects, proposes five tribes, — Nepides, 
Hydrocoryzes, Galgulites, Amphibicoryzes, and Geocoryzes. M. La- 
porte de Castelnau, on the other hand, regarding the habits of these 
insects as of more importance than the situation in which they exist, 
has divided them into two groups, Hemathelges (blood-suckers)* and 
Anthothelges (flower-suckers) ; each divisible into aquatic and ter- 
restrial species, characterised by the length or shortness of the ros- 
trum, and the raptorial or simple form of the feet; observing, ‘* Les 
especes que la nature a appelées a poursuivre et a chasser une proie 
vivante sont nécessairement douées d’une intelligence plus étendue ; 
et, par conséquent, sont plus avancées dans l’échelle animale que ces 
étres innocents qui doivent rencontrer leur nourriture sur leur route, 
sans avoir besoin de déployer leur intelligence ala poursuivre.” (/ssat 
Hémipt. p.3.) In the present state of our knowledge, however, as 
M. Spinola has clearly shown (Essai, p. 38.), it is impossible to at- 
tempt a classification of the order from the nature of the fluid food of 
the insects; as, for instance, he notices that he had repeatedly ob- 
served both Lygzites and Pentatomites sucking the juices of other 
insects, and points out various other objections to such a mode of dis- 
tribution. I shall therefore adopt the binary distribution of Latreille. 
But, as the aquatic species have been regarded as most allied to the 
Homoptera, they are here placed at the head of the order, which I shall 
distribute into families, nearly as proposed by Burmeister (whose fa- 
milies appear far more natural than many of his genera); retaining, 
however, the family termination ide, founded upon that of the typical 
genus, namely : — 
Section 1. Hydrocorisa, or those which reside in water, divided into 
two families: Notonectide and Nepide. 
Section 2. Aurocorisa MWestw. (Geocorisa Latr.), or those which 
breathe the free air, divided into nine families: Galgulide, Hy- 
* Zoadelges ou Sanguisuges Dumeril (Consid. Gén. p. 216.), but merely dis- 
tinguished by the capillary terminal joint of the antennz 
