160 ON SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY. 



(214.) MM. Kirby and Spence, speaking of this part of 

 the Linnsean arrangement, observe : " His system,, be- 

 ing founded upon the absence or presence and character of 

 the organs of flight,, is in some degree a republication of 

 the Aristotelian. In considering this table of orders, it 

 must strike every one acquainted with the subject, 

 that, although the assumption of a single set of organs, 

 whereon to build a system, can scarcely be expected 

 to lead to one perfectly natural, yet that the majority of 

 groups here given as orders merit that character. The 

 second, indeed, and the last require further subdivision, 

 and concerning the fourth no satisfactory conclusion 

 has yet been drawn. With regard to the series of his 

 orders, it is mostly artificial. Linne has the advan- 

 tage of all his predecessors in giving clearer definitions 

 to his orders, and in their nomenclature, in which he 

 has followed the path first trodden by Aristotle."* 



(215.) The genera of insects, characterised by Lin- 

 naeus, deserve to be remembered. As the student will 

 find an acquaintance with them of great advantage in 

 the early periods of his study, we shall here enumerate 

 their characters, since by this plan he will be rendered 

 familiar with the types of what are now, for the most 

 part, examples of families or very large divisions. 



I. COLEOPTERA. 



* ^ntenncc clavate, thickest at the tip. 



Scarabaeus. Beetle. Club lamellate, anterior thighs toothed. 

 Lucanus. Stagbeetle. Club compressed, the sides more widely 



cleft. 



Dermestes. Club perfoliate ; head inflexed under the thorax. 

 Hister. Club solid ; head retractile within the thorax. 

 Byrrhus. Club solid, ovate. 

 Gyrinus. Antennae rigid ; eyes four. 

 Attelabus. Head pedunculated, or attenuated at the base. 

 Curculio. Antennae placed on a horny rostrum or beak. 

 Silpha. Thorax and elytra marginated. 

 Coccinella. Club of antennae obtuse ; palpi with a truncated 



club. 



* Int. to Ent vol. iv. p. 438. 



