434 HISTORY OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



has only distinguished three of them as larger groups 

 by appropriate names, of the majority of the Orders 

 of Insects at present admitted. His Coleoptera, Psychce, 

 and Diptera are evidently such. His idea of Hemiptera 

 seems taken solely from the Cicada or Tettix : but the 

 manner in which he expresses himself concerning it, as 

 having no mouth, but furnished instead with a lingui- 

 form organ resembling the proboscis of Diptera*, proves 

 that he regarded it as the type of a distinct group. Since 

 he considers the saltatorious Orthoptera as forming such 

 a group, it is probable that he included the cursorious 

 ones with the Neuroptera in his majora section of Te- 

 traptera ; and the resemblance of many of the Mantidce 

 to the Neuroptera is so great, that this mistake would 

 not be wonderful. His division of the Diptera is quite 

 artificial. 



How far Aristotle's ideas with regard to genera and 

 species attained to any degree of precision, is not easily 

 ascertained : in other respects his knowledge of insects 

 was more evident. As to their anatomy, he observes 

 that their body is usually divided into three primary seg- 

 ments, head, trunk, and abdomen ; that they have an 

 intestinal canal, in some straight and simple, in others 

 contorted, extending from the mouth to the anus; that 

 the Orthoptera have a ventricle or gizzard 5 . He had 

 noticed the drums of Cicada, and that the males only 

 are vocal. Other instances of the accurate observation 

 of this great man might be adduced, but enough has 

 been said to justify the above encomiums. His principal 

 error was that of equivocal generation. 



a Hist. Amm. 1. iv. c. 7. b Ibid. 



