434 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



the writings of that father of zoology that the first 

 traces of entomology, as a distinct science, are to be 

 found. This era dates from three centuries and a half 

 before the Christian era ; and, as Latreille observes, 

 it is not less memorable in the history of the world as 

 being that in which one of his pupils, Alexander the 

 Great, flourished ; and, by a remarkable coincidence, 

 the modern Aristotle (as Cuvier has been called) 

 flourished during the reign of a man scarcely less 

 celebrated than Alexander. Aristotle noticed the 

 difference between masticating and sucking insects, 

 and many of the divisions which he established 

 amongst insects are adopted by the latest entomolo- 

 gists ; but the distinctive character of the science of 

 entomology of this period was the admission of a 

 greater number of insects as distinct species, which 

 were but in the preparatory state of others, which 

 were also observed. In like manner many species 

 which had not been traced to the egg-state, were 

 regarded as the offspring of a spontaneous gene- 

 ration. With insects were arranged the Annelidas and 

 many other animals of a widely different structure. 

 Entomology was, however, at this period but a sum- 

 mary of popular traditions, often fabulous or in part 

 erroneous, and more under the domain of medicine 

 than of zoology, mixed up, nevertheless, with some 

 facts which were too apparent to escape the simplest 

 investigation. As to the other ancient naturalists, 

 they have scarcely added any thing to the knowledge 

 transmitted to them by Aristotle. This knowledge 

 passed from the Greeks to the Romans, and from them 

 to the inhabitants of the northern parts of Europe, by 

 whom the Roman power was broken down. Pass we, 

 therefore, over a period of nineteen centuries, and 

 arrive at the second great entomological era when 

 the revival of letters led to a corresponding revival 

 of the so long dormant sciences. Albert the Great 

 devoted one out of the twenty-two folio volumes, 

 of which he was the author, to natural history, and 

 in which he treated upon insects, which he separated 

 from the Crustacea. Haifa century afterwards (about 

 1550) the simultaneous appearance of Gesner, Belon, 

 and Rondelet, three of the fathers of zoology, cave 

 a great impulse to this branch of science.. Still, how- 

 ever, entomology was much infected with the radical 

 vice of spontaneous generation, but the spirit of obser- 

 vation was abroad ; facts were collected, and both by 

 the assistance of figures engraved upon wood and of 

 microscopic glasses, much increase was made to the 

 stock of knowledge. Some naturalists even con- 

 fined their researches to entomology ; and in 1602, 

 Aldrovandus published a treatise upon this science. 

 In like manner, in the " Treatise of Insects," (an ex- 

 tensive folio volume, being the joint labours of Wot- 

 ton, Gesner, Penny, and Mouffet, published in 1624, 

 and being remarkable as the earliest work which 

 appeared in England expressly devoted to entomo- 

 logy), a great variety of figures of insects were given, 

 which from their rarity have been overlooked or 

 regarded by modern writers as entirely novel. The 

 work was divided into chapters, in each of which 

 some genus of insects was treated upon ; the first 

 seven being devoted to the honey bee. Still, how- 

 ever, there were incongruously blended along with 

 insects all sorts of larvae of other species belonging 

 to the winged orders, and likewise many of the Lin- 

 nsean class of genuine Vermes, and even the Hippo- 

 campcB. Moreover, in the works^ of this period, we 

 find the same continual reference to the supposed 



medical virtues of almost every species of insect, an 

 instance of which, showing the ridiculous extent to 

 which these ideas were carried, has been given under 

 our article CurculionidcE, in the account of the Curculio 

 emtiodontalgieus. But better days were now at hand. 

 Redi, and Malpighi, and S\vaminerdam, towards the 

 close of the seventeenth century, laid the foundations 

 of a true system of entomology by the excellency of 

 their respective observations. The first of these cele- 

 brated men, by experiment, threw down the doctrine 

 of equivocal or spontaneous generation, and also cor- 

 rected numerous other errors into which naturalists in 

 general had fallen. The second published a variety 

 of researches of great importance upon the anatomy 

 of these animals ; whilst the third, by stripping from 

 the transformations of insects all of the marvellous 

 with which they had been invested, and more espe- 

 cially by the clearness of the details by which he 

 illustrated the extraordinary and startling fact which 

 he quaintly designated as " an animal within an ani- 

 mal," contributed more to the true knowledge and 

 systematic distribution of insects than any of his pre- 

 decessors. His work, as well as those of Mouffet, 

 Redi, and Malpighi, are still sought after with avi- 

 dity by the student ; and his pages, although contain- 

 ing much verbosity, are filled with the most valuable 

 materials the result of the most patient attention, 

 devoted both to the habits and structure of the ani- 

 mals investigated. IF, indeed, in our days, the dis- 

 tribution which he proposed, founded upon the nature 

 of the transformations of insects, has been abandoned, 

 it is not less true that the considerations upon which 

 it was established, constitute one of the most valuable 

 elements for a classification of insects, according to 

 their natural relations with each other. 



About the same period Lister, Leeuwenhoek, 

 madame Merian, Vallisnieri, and Ray, rendered great 

 service to entomology by making known, in con- 

 siderable detail, a great number of insects, whilst the 

 Memoirs of Reaumur, which appeared about the 

 middle of the eighteenth century, form a storehouse 

 of facts to which every entomologist cannot but turn 

 with new delight. De Geer also, the prince of ento- 

 mologists as he has been termed by Macleay, flou- 

 rished about the same period, and either as regards 

 classification, anatomy, physiology, or the economy 

 and habits of insects, his " Memoires pour servir a 

 1'Histoire des Insectes," written in French, although 

 printed at Stockholm, cannot be cited without praise. 

 There are other authors who have trod in the steps 

 of these illustrious men, but up to the present time 

 their labours have not been surpassed. 



We now arrive at the era of Linnaeus, a name to 

 be revered by every naturalist. To him every branch 

 of natural history, entomology, in particular, are under 

 the greatest obligations for the strong impulse given 

 to them. This is not the place to detail his classi- 

 fication of insects, valuable as it is, and purified from 

 the errors with which the ancients had darkened the 

 subject ; but we must here pay the debt of justice and 

 of gratitude for the admirable system of names which 

 he invented, and which has now become general, for 

 the clearness and precision of the definitions which 

 he gave of the different orders of insects, for the esta- 

 blishment of genera, and for the promulgation of a 

 code of philosophical precepts relative to natural 

 history and botany. 



The same era gave birth to other entomologists, 

 whose works must be cited with praise Rosel, Schaffer, 



