INTRODUCTION TO THE ARTICULATED ANIMALS WITH 



ARTICULATED LEGS.* 



BY M. P. A. LATREILLE. 



/ 



Overwhelmed by the variety of his occupations, and yielding too easily to the im- 

 pulse of friendship, M. Cuvier has confided to me the portion of this work which treats 

 upon insects. 



These animals were the objects of his earliest studies in zoology, and hence origin- 

 ated his friendship with Fabricius, one of the most celebrated disciples of Linnaeus, who 

 has repeatedly, in his works, shown evidences of his particular esteem. Various inte- 

 resting observations upon some of these animals, published in the Journal d'Histoire 

 Naturelle, formed the prelude to his works upon natural history. Entomology, like the 

 other branches of zoology, has derived the greatest advantages from his anatomical re- 

 searches, and the happy modifications which he has thence made in the groundwork of our 

 classification. The external structure of insects has been better understood ; and this 

 branch of the science has no longer been neglected, as it had previously been. His 

 Tableau Elementaire de I'Histoire Naturelle, and Lemons d' Anatomie Comparee, have 

 pointed out the path to the natural method. The public will therefore have cause to 

 regret that his numerous pursuits would not permit him to undertake this portion 

 of his treatise upon animals. 



In undertaking this work, my object has been to unite, in as narrow limits as possible, 

 the most striking facts in the history of insects ; to arrange these animals with precision 

 and clearness, in a natural series ; to sketch their physiognomy ; to trace, in as few 

 words as possible, their distinguishing features, adopting a plan which shall be in rela- 

 tion to the progressive advance of the science and of the student ; to notice the bene- 

 ficial and obnoxious species, — indicating, at the same time, the best sources where he 

 may attain a knowledge of the other species ; to reduce the science to the engaging 

 simplicity which it exhibited in the days of Linnaeus, GeofFroy, and the earlier works 

 of Fabricius, and yet to present it as it now appears, enriched but not overcharged with 

 recent observations and researches ; — in a word, to make it conformable to the work 

 of Cuvier. 



This author, in his Tableau Elementaire de I'Histoire Naturelle ties Animaux, did not 

 limit the extent of the class of insects, as restricted by Linnaeus, but introduced neces- 



• [These introductory observations appeared in both editions of the lished in the intervening period. In lilte manner, tlie internal anatomj 



R^gve Attimtii, \V.e object of Lalreille beinp iierein to set forth the ' of these anitnals iiad been ^really studied, — tliereby, in many instances, 



ueneral principles upon wliich liis arrangement of tlie Linnxan insects i affordinif more certain proofs of the solidity of many of tl»e ^roupi pre- 



was founded. In the second edition, the same general classification viously proposed, and of whose internal slrnclure it therefore became 



n'as udiipted, but considerable alterations were made in the arrani^e- ! necessary to add the details to the generally external characttr pre- 



ment of tlie secondary and tertiary groups, such as families, genera, i viously given ; so that this second edition ought more strictly to be 



&c., it having been impossible to bring the work down to the then | regarded as an entirely new work.] 



present stale of the science, without modifying the former arrange- j •»• Throughout the Articulated portion of the present edition, th- 



ment, and making great additions ; so that two volumes were requisite ! original passages are enclo.sed in editorial narentheses, thus \ ' 

 instead of one, to give a summary of the mM'titu-'inous ^euera pub i 



2 c 



