40 



CHAPTER III. 



ON THE WINGS OF INSECTS, AND ON THEIR 

 CLASSIFICATION. 



THE youDg student of Entomology will perhaps be 

 agreeably surprised to find tbat characters so obvious as 

 those presented by the wings of insects, are set before 

 him as the basis of the classification of the tribe. It 

 will at once occur to him that if the four network wings 

 of the dragonfly, the two membranous wings of the house- 

 fly, the down-covered wings of the butterfly, are suffi- 

 cient to point out the orders to which these insects 

 belong, then it cannot be very difficult to take the first 

 step in Entomology that of determining to what order 

 any insect belongs. 



That he may not, however, suppose this character to 

 be chosen merely as a means of sorting insects not 

 essentially allied, he must, for the present, take for 

 granted that of which he will soon perceive the truth 

 namely, that a certain character of wing is found 

 to correspond with more important characters in the 

 general structure and habits of insects, and that the 

 orders thus formed are in fact natural groups. 



The beetles stand first in most arrangements of in- 

 sects, with them, therefore, the description should com- 

 mence. But let it be understood that by " beetles" are 

 not meant " black beetles," and that " black beetles" are 

 not beetles. 



