HISTORY OF ENTOMOLOGY. 451 



Such were the services rendered to Entomology by 

 the labours of the immortal Swede ; services so extensive 

 as well as eminent, that had they been the fruit of a whole 

 life devoted to this single object, they would have en- 

 titled him to a righ rank amongst the heroes of the sci- 

 ence. But how much more astonishing are they when 

 considered but as gleanings from his hours of relaxation, 

 snatched from labours infinitely greater, the produce, as 

 he himself tells us, of moments consumed by others in 

 " venationibus, confabulationibus, tesseris, chartis, lusi- 

 bus, compotationibus a ." It is not so much in original 

 discovery that the merits of Linne lie, though consi- 

 dered in this view they are pre-eminent, as in the un- 

 rivalled skill with which he sifted the observations of his 

 predecessors, separating the ore from the dross, and con- 

 centrating scattered rays of light into one focus. 



This era produced other systematists who adopted 

 various methods, but none that merit particular notice 

 except Geofrroy and De Geer. The former in this view 

 is principally celebrated as the author of the method 

 generally adopted by modern Entomologists, of dividing 

 the Coleoptera into primary sections, according to the 

 number of the joints of their tarsi. This method, 

 though in many instances, as was formerly observed b , it 

 leads to artificial results, in others affords a clue to na- 

 tural groups ; it can only therefore be applied subject to 

 frequent exceptions. Geoffrey's work , which was pub- 

 lished in 1764-, was further serviceable by indicating 

 many genera not defined by Linne. 



a Fn. Suec. Praef. b VOL. III. p. 681 -. 



c Histoire abregec des Insectes. 



2 G 2 



