INSECTA. 343 



kind of a metamorphosis, whicli increases the number of legs, and 

 that of the anniili of the body, correspond to the order of the Arach- 

 nides antennistes of Lamarck. The organ of sight in these animals 

 is usually a mere (more or less considerable) assemblage of simple 

 eyes resembling granules. The following orders compose the class 

 of Insects of the same author. That of the Suctoria, which only 

 comprises the genus Pulex, from its natural relations should appa- 

 rently terminate the class, but as I place those Insects which are 

 apterous at the beginning, this order, for the sake of regularity in the 

 system, should immediately follow that of the Parasita. 



Certain English naturalists have formed now orders, based upon 

 the wings ; I see no necessity, however, for admitting them, that of 

 the Stresiptera excepted, the name of which appears to me to be 

 erroneous*, and which I will call Rhipiptera]. 



In the first order, or the Myriapoda, there are more than six feet — 

 twenty-four and upwards — arranged along the whole length of the 

 body, on a suite of annuli, each of which bears one or two pairs, and 

 of which the first, and in several even the second, seem to form a part 

 of the mouth. They are apterous J. 



In the second, or the Thysanoura, there are six legs, and the abdo- 

 men is furnished on its sides with moveable parts, in the form of false 

 feet, or terminated by appendages fitted for leaping. 



In the third, or the Parasita, we find six legs, no Avings, and no 

 other organs of sight than ocelli ; the mouth, in a great measure, is 

 internal, and consists of a snout containing a retractile sucker, or in 

 a slit between two lips, with two hooked mandibles. 



In the fourth, or the Suctoria, there are six legs, but no wings § ; 

 the mouth is composed of a sucker inclosed in a cylindrical sheath, 

 formed of two articulated portions. 



In the fifth, or the Coleoptera, there are six legs, and four wings, 

 the two superior of which have the form of cases, and mandibles, and 

 maxillee (a) for mastication : the inferior wings are simply folded cross- 



* T-..isted wings. The parts taken for elytra are not so. See this order. 



-f- Wings folded like a fan. 



X Destitute of wings and scutellum. 



§ They undergo metamorphoses and acquire organs of locomotion which they did 

 not possess at first. This character is common to the following orders, but in the 

 latter the metamorphosis developes another sort of locomotive organs — the wings. 



{j3^ (f() The maxillne of coleopterous Insects, in conjunction with the mandibles, usu- 

 ally have this triturating function assigned to them. M. Hentz, a distinguished Ame- 

 rican entomologist, Trans. Phil. Soc, III, part ii, p. 458, is of the opinion that in 

 many cases the maxillae must be considered as mere appendages to the tongue, and 

 that their office is to assist in deglutition, seldom serving to grind or lacerate, except 

 in the Melolonthidee, RuteUdce, and some others, where there seems to be a departure 

 from their primary use. In corroboration of this idea he adduces the configuration 



