Oji Medical Entomology, £31 



lo place entomology, as well as all the other branches of 

 natural history, ou an unshaken base. Attempts ii;ive bcei^ 

 made, but in vain, to correct, reform, or improve his me- 

 thod, or to establish an opposite one. This trail structure 

 broke to pieces against the sublime monument raised by the 

 celebnted naturalist of Sweden. 



Among the entomologists who have modified the system 

 of Linnxus, GecfiVoy perhaps is the only one who can be 

 excused, probably because he has the least deviated from it. 

 He thought it necessary to unite the neuroptcra and the 

 hymenoptera imder the name of tetraptera, with naked 

 wings, and he founded one of his principal divisions on the 

 number of the joints of the tarsi. In reading his work, 

 which is valuable on many accounts, it was regretted that 

 specific names were not found in it. Fourcroy has com- 

 pletely supplied this deficiency in his excellent Parisian 

 Entomolog)'. 



Olivier introduced some modifications in the system of 

 Linuceus, and added to it an order, the orthoptera, which 

 it might have done ver)' well without. 



Fabricius has struck out a new route, and asserted that it 

 is the only real one. To hear him, one might say that na- 

 ture has revealed to him her most secret mysteries. His 

 classification, which is founded on the organs of manduca- 

 tion, requires that one should be always provided with a 

 good microscope and a compass, to observe and measure 

 the number, figure, proportion, and situation of all the 

 parts of the mouth of insects, which in several circum- 

 stances it would even be ridiculous to attempt. The insur- 

 mountable difiiculties which almost always accompany this 

 method, are, however, only its least fault. There are seen 

 in it,- at ^very step, forced relations; and winged insects 

 are confounded in a strange manner with the aptera. 



Though Latreille has still increased the difiiculties with 

 which entomology has been filled by Fabricius, one cannot 

 refuse to this modest naturalist the tribute of hon)age due to 

 his knowledge, and desire to communicate it. 



It would be superfluous to accumulate proofs to show the 

 infinite distance which separates Linnoeus from those who 

 have pursued the same career. I should be afraid that the 

 comparison would be injurious to him. Filled with adnu- 

 ration for this great man, I shall follow, with religious re- 

 spect, the plan he has traced out. 



Insects are small animals, which arc indebted for their 



name to the divisions or rings of which their bodies arc 



composed. At the anterior part of the head they luave two 



P4 articulated 



