RELATIONS OF INSECTS. 45 



and he only, who will look at an insect or a plant in this man- 

 ner, he who will not rest contented with the possession of 

 a specimen, or the observation of a fact in its economy, or 

 the knowledge of its name and place in the system, but will 

 give to his views this extent, he only is the good naturalist. 



Before, however, entering upon the peculiar character- 

 istics and modern distribution of insects in the most extended 

 sense of the word, it will be serviceable, in the first place, to 

 enter into an inquiry into the nature of the various relations 

 existing amongst insects ; and secondly, the mode of appli- 

 cation of the principles to be derived from the study of such 

 relations, either in the construction of an arrangement most 

 fitly adapted for the artificial bringing together of objects, so 

 as to enable the memory with least difficulty to retain an 

 idea of their various characters, distinctions, and names, or, 

 with a higher view, of endeavouring to trace out, by the 

 strict application of their relationships, the general plan by 

 which the wondrous whole has been so beautifully arranged. 

 The latter branch of this inquiry will be best attained by 

 offering a concise sketch of the rise of Entomological science, 

 brought down to its present state. 



I have heard it maintained, by men w r hose views of natural 

 history have been based upon a too partial examination of a 

 few isolated species of some limited groups of animals, that, 

 except in the relations existing between the sexes of a spe- 

 cies, or the sexes of distinct species which might accidentally 

 couple together, or between a predaceous insect and the in- 

 sects upon which it preys, there can be no such thing as a 

 relationship amongst insects. And this view of the subject 

 is endeavoured to be supported by the argument, that the 

 various species of the group which we term a family or 

 genus are totally independent of each other in all their re- 

 lations of life, and that the annihilation of one species would 

 in nowise influence the remaining species. 



