100 NOTES ON CLASSIFICATION. 



so that the last group taken into consideration always 

 brought the student back to that from which he 

 started. It must be confessed that this mode of 

 looking at the subject may often serve to give us 

 a much better idea of the mutual affinities of animals 

 than can be obtained by any other means ; and if we 

 represent the groups through which we have just 

 passed in this manner, 



GEODEPHAGA 



HYDRADEPHAGA BRACHELYTRA 



GYRONECHINA NECROPHAGA 



PHILHYDRIDA, 



we at once get a diagrammatic view of their mutual 

 relations, which no linear arrangement could furnish. 

 At the same time the universal applicability of this 

 system appears to be very problematical, and most of 

 its supporters have mixed it up so intimately with 

 questions of fives and sevens, representative and oscu- 

 lant groups, and relations of affinity and analogy, that 

 nothing short of positive inspiration can enable one 

 to understand what they would be at. 



Carabus. 



