CLASSIFICATION OF DIPTERA. 9 
merdam, who, after years and years of work, brought out his “ His- 
toria Insectorum Generalis.” It was first published at Utrecht in 
1669. This work was afterwards published in French, Latin, and 
English. At first the value of this publication was not known, and 
no one would publish it in England until 1758, and it was then 
printed with the edition of the “ Biblia Nature.” The scheme of 
arrangement presented in this work is very different to any preceding 
author. He classed the insects in four groups: 
tst Group or Class : No change of form, but which quit the egg in the same 
state and appearance they are to retain during life (Spiders, onisci, etc.). 
2nd Class: No wings on leaving the egg; other members formed; after 
passing out of a nymph state wings appear and the insect can breed 
(Locusts, dragon-flies). 
3rd Class: Animal isin a disguised state before issuing from the egg, and then 
eats and grows, forming the members of the insect into which it is 
to be converted under the skin, and which it leaves, and then it is the 
pupa or chrysalis (Moths, etc. ). 
4th Class: The pupa retains two skins, one the larval (Ichneumon). 
In 1688 Blankaart’s ‘‘ Schou Berg der Rupsen, Wormer, Maden, 
etc.,” was published. This Dutch physician in this work gave an 
account of many larvee, including a dozen fly larve. The plates in 
this are wonderfully executed for the age. 
The eighteenth century produced many great entomologists, and 
at the end we shall see an immense advance in entomological know- 
ledge. At first came Ray, Lister, and Reaumur. 
Ray’s great work was “Historia Insectorum,” published in 1810, 
after his death, by Dr. Derham. This great naturalist divided the 
insects into two sections : 
(1) Those that undergo transformation in their form. 
(2) Those that do not pass through any transformation after 
being produced in the first instance. 
He formed his orders according to a number of characters, such 
as the feet, the habits, odour, larva, etc. He included the Vermes 
in his classification of insects. He may have considered these in- 
cluded Vermes as the larval stages of insects. 
Between 1734 and 1742 Reaumur published a five-volume work 
entitled “Mémoires pour servir 4 |’Histoire des Insectes.” This 
work contained as many as two hundred plates, and was the best 
work published so far. There were two editions, one in French and 
another in Dutch. This work of Reaumur’s put fresh energy into the 
entomologists of the Continent. 
Almost at the same time as Reaumutr’s writings there commenced 
to appear papers by the great Swedish naturalist, Linnzeus. In 1735 
he published the first edition of his renowned and valuable work, 
