Class 3. 



INSECTA. 



481 



Although this order was more natural than that of Linnaeus, it has not been followed ; 

 and it is only recently that anatomical observations, and a more rigorous exactitude of 

 the applications thence derived, have led us to the natural system.* 



I divide this class into twelve orders, of which the first three, composed of species 

 destitute of wings, do not essentially change their forms and habits, and are merely 

 subject either to simple moulting or to a rudimental metamorphosis, whereby the number 

 of feet and of the segments of the body are increased. These correspond with the 

 Arachnides antennistes of Lamarck. Tlie organs of sight, in these animals, ordinarily 

 consist of an assemblage of simple eyes, of greater or less extent. The following orders 

 compose the class of Insects of the same naturalist. From its natural relations, the 

 order Suctoria, which only consists of the genus Pulex [or Flea] , appears to terminate 

 the class ; but as I place at its head the insects which have no wings, this order, 

 keeping up the regularity of the system, ought to succeed immediately after that of 

 the Parasita. 



Some of the English naturalists have established, from the consideration of the wings, 

 several new orders ; but I do not see the necessity for their admission, with the excep- 

 tion of that of the Strepsiptera, of which the denomination {twisted wings) appears to 

 me to be defective, such not being the case, and which I consequently term Rhipiptera, 

 ox fan- shaped wings.\ 



The first order, Myriapoda, has more than six legs (twenty-four, and beyond), 

 arranged along the whole length of the body, upon a series of rings, each of which bears 

 one or two pairs, and of which the first, and also the second in many species, appears 

 to form part of the mouth. They are apterous, — that is, deprived of wings and 

 scutellum. 



The second order, Thtsanura, has six feet, and the abdomen furnished, at the sides, 

 with moveable pieces, in the form of false legs, or terminated by appendages fitted for 

 leaping. 



The third order, Parasita, has six legs ; is destitute of wings ; exhibits no organs of 

 sight, except ocelli ; the mouth is for the most part interior, and only consists of a muzzle 

 inclosing a retractile sucker, or of a slit situated between two lips, with two hooked 

 mandibles. 



The fourth order, Suctoria, has six legs ; is destitute of wings ; and the mouth is 

 composed of a sucker, inclosed in a cylindrical sheath of two articulated pieces. They 

 undergo metamorphosis, and acquire thereby locomotive organs which they did not at 

 first possess. This character is common to the following orders ; but, in them, wings 

 are always developed by metamorphosis. 



The fifth order, Coleoptera, has six legs ; four wings, the superior pair having the 

 form of sheaths ; mandibles and maxillse for mastication ; the lower wings folded simply 

 crosswise, and the sheaths crustaceous, and always horizontal. They undergo a com- 

 plete metamorphosis. 



The sixth order, Orthoptera, has six legs ; four wings, of which the two upper are 

 in the form of sheaths ; mandibles and maxillae for mastication, the latter covered at 



• Cu^^e^, T\bi. Etfm. de VHiU.Nat. des Anim., and Le{;ons d'Anat. 

 CompaT^e ; Lamarck, Systhne dct Anim. tnnt F'eTt^bret ; Latreille, 

 Precis des Cr.ract, Grn,^ and Genera CTUstaceorttm et InsectOTum, See 

 also, for further details, the excellent Introduction to Entomology 

 by Messrs. Kirbf and Spence. [The HortE Entomologica of M'Leay, 

 the Handbuck der Entomotogie by Hermann Burmeister. translated 

 Sbuckard, and my Introduction to the Modern Classification of In- 



sects, may also be alluded to, as offering many details relative to the 

 natural arrangement of this class]. 



t [It is true that the wings are not twisted, but the pribalanciert, 

 as Latreille terms them, are ; and, as it is now proved that these organs 

 are meaothoracic organs, the propriety of Mr. Kirby's name is esta- 

 blished.] 



2 H 



