ENTOMOLOGY 



Frisch, all of whom have figured and described many 

 insects. Bonnet, whose researches upon the habits 

 and generation of Aphides are of the greatest interest ; 

 not only with respect to the natural history of these 

 animals, but also to physiology in general. Lyonnet, 

 to w.hose incomparable anatomical details upon the 

 Cossits we have had occasion repeatedly to refer ; 

 Fabricius, also the pupil of Linnaeus, by the vast 

 number of new species of insects which he described, 

 and the pains which he took in bringing to perfection 

 a novel system of classification founded upon the 

 structure of the organs of the mouth (that of Linnaeus 

 being built upon the structure of the wings), has 

 merited the thanks of the entomologist. 



Hitherto we have seen that in the distributions 

 which had been proposed by entomologists, a single 

 organ, or series of organs, had been selected as a key- 

 stone of the system ; the natural consequence of which, 

 as might have been expected, was the constant arti- 

 ficial results to which such distributions were exposed. 



We now arrive, however, at the era of the eclectic 

 system, or that of Latreille, one of the most inde- 

 fatigable and philosophical entomologists that has yet 

 appeared, who perceiving this difficulty, successfully 

 accomplished the task of remedying it. He did for 

 entomology what his compatriot, Bernard de Jussieu, 

 had succeeded in doing for botany. By making use 

 of the various characters which are exhibited by 

 various organs in various degrees of development in 

 various groups of insects, and by neglecting neither the 

 metamorphotic characteristics (which were the key of 

 Swammerdam's arrangement); nor the variations in 

 the structure of the wings (upon which the Linnaean 

 system was founded), nor the structure of the mouth 

 (which Fabricius had employed as above stated), he 

 has established amongst insects natural groups, ar- 

 ranged according to the affinities which they respect- 

 ively possess with each other. His first work appeared 

 in 1796; and since this period up to the present 

 time, the works of entomologists in general have been 

 directed towards the same end. Latreille himself, 

 until his lamented decease, ceased not to strive to 

 render his views more accordant with nature. Cuvier, 

 by his admirable comparative anatomical researches ; 

 Dumeril, Lamarck, Savigny, Macleay, Kirby, Meigen, 

 Schonherr, and a great number of other distinguished 

 authors, have followed in the same steps, and have 

 contributed to render the distribution of insects more 

 perfect, and more easily applicable ; or to complete 

 our knowledge of groups by the publication of de- 

 scriptions of new species, or of anatomical details of 

 those already known. 



In respect, therefore, to precision of observation, to 

 the distribution of insects into natural groups, and the 

 classification of such groups, it is to be observed, that 

 in our Own times the greatest progress has been made 

 in entomology. Earlier classifications were founded 

 upon individual and isolated characters, so that the 

 groups which exist in nature were but vaguely exhi- 

 bited ; but at the present day, by the examination of 

 the general characters of insects, all such as are allied 

 together in nature are brought into contact, the effect 

 whereof is, that it is sufficient only to obtain a com- 

 plete knowledge of a single individual, in order to 

 gain a clue to the general structure of the whole of 

 the species which are arranged with it. 



In like manner, the investigation of the internal 

 anatomy of these animals has been equally progressive, 

 for, instead of simply examining the structure of such 



435 



or such an isolated animal, entomologists, following in 

 the steps of the comparative anatomists, have traced 

 the modifications which each organ exhibits in the 

 whole of the animals of which the class is composed. 

 Cuvier led the way to this branch of the science, and 

 has been followed'by Marcel de Serres, Herold, Tre- 

 viranus, Leon Dufour, Gaede, &c. ; whilst the minute 

 researches of Straus-Durckheim upon the Melolontha 

 i'i//gf/ns, and of Mr. Newport upon the Privet Hawk 

 Moth, published in the " Philosophical Transactions" 

 for the last year, may be cited as models of patience. 

 Besides the last named author, the English ento- 

 mologist may boast of the works of several other 

 labourers, whose researches are not inferior to those 

 of any of the continental authors. The " Illustrations 

 of the Genera of British Insects," published by Mr. 

 Curtis, is a work of the highest service to the science, 

 displaying not only the most minute care in the dis- 

 section and delineation of the typical species of the 

 genera illustrated, but also the highest style of ele- 

 gance in its pictorial representations ; whilst the work 

 of Mr. Stephens, which may be regarded as a com- 

 panion to the former, presents to us a far more 

 complete series and description of the species of 

 insects found in our own island than any other country 

 can boast of. The "Systematic Catalogue" of the 

 latter author is a work exhibiting the most astonishing 

 exertion ; whilst the completion of Mr. Haworth's 

 Lepidoptera Britannica, the Australian Monographs 

 of Mr. George Gray, with beautiful illustrations from 

 the pencil of Mr. Charles Curtis, the English trans- 

 lation of the " Regne Animal," by Mr. Griffith and 

 others, the work upon the Lepidoptera of Java, by 

 Dr. Horsfield, together with numerous valuable me- 

 moirs published in the " Magazine of Natural History," 

 the " Annals of Philosophy," Dr. Jameson's Edin- 

 burgh Journal, the Linnsean and Zoological Society's 

 Transactions, the Entomological Magazine, and the 

 Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 

 all prove that the spirit of entomology is rising 

 strongly amongst us. 



In the last place we may mention, as affording a 

 most gratifying fact in the history of the science of 

 entomology, the recent establishment of societies 

 expressly devoted to the cultivation of this branch of 

 zoological knowledge, both in Paris and London. Eng- 

 land, it is true, led the way by the establishment of 

 such a society nearly forty years ago, for the support 

 of which the best energies of the late Mr. Haworth 

 were in an especial manner, and for a great length of 

 time directed; but for the last twenty years nothing 

 had been done by it. It must, however, be admitted, 

 that it is to the establishment of the French Entomo 

 logical Society of London that we may, in a great 

 degree, attribute the rousing of the energies of the 

 many entomologists amongst us: the result of which 

 has been the formation of a society established upon 

 liberal principles, and likely to prove of the greatest 

 service to the science, for the cultivation of which 

 it has been called into existence. See further the 

 articles INSECTS, ARACHNIDA, and CRUSTACEA, and 

 the articles referred to in each. 



ENTOMOSTOMATA (De Blainville). These 

 molluscs form the second family of the first order 

 Siphonostomata, second class Paracephalophora. Tho 

 family includes the genera Buccinum, Cerithium, Me- 

 lanopsis, Planaxis, Subula, Terebra, Eburna, Harpa, 

 Doliuni, Cassidaris, Cassis, Ricimila, Cancellarui, Pur- 

 mm, and lastly Concholepas, nearly all of which were 

 EE2 



