ANALOGIES OF THE APTERA. 



365 



for the first have the greatest developement of the feet, 

 just as the other has of the wings. It is not a little 

 extraordinary, indeed, that the first have the fewest, 

 and the latter have the most, feet, in their larva state : 

 here, then, is certainly an analogy, although it cannot 

 be expressed succinctly in words. On the other hand, 

 the iRlidce, again, which are certainly the types of the 

 Myriupoda, agree with the Lepidoptera in not being 

 carnivorous ; and this is a material point of similitude ; 

 so that we see the two pre-eminently typical groups 

 agree in many important particulars : on the other hand, 

 when we consider that the spiders and the lepido- 

 j)terous larvae, are the only insects having the power of 

 spinning, we are tempted to believe, that they are true 

 representations of each other ; and that the Myriapoda 

 represent the Hemiptera — not the Lepidoptera. We 

 state all these circumstances, leaving the question to be 

 decided by others, although we ourselves believe the 

 former to be the correct mode of viewing the subject. 

 The analogy which many authors, particularly MacLeay, 

 conceive the Suctoria to have with the Coleoptera, is 

 strengthened by the foregoing table; and it is quite clear 

 they represent each other, just as the Crustacea typify 

 the aquatic Neuroptera : as for the resemblance between 

 the Diptera and the Hymenoptera, it is not merely an 

 analogy, but an affinity, — and this so close as to be ob- 

 vious to every one. The analogies, in fact, between the 

 two great typical classes of insects, are so complete, as to 

 leave no doubt that they are founded in nature. 



(325.) The use of these comparisons, however, is not 

 merely confined to the developement of analogies. They 

 prove, if any thing can prove, the rank of the divisions 

 belonging to each ; and show, in the clearest manner, that 

 if those in which the Ptilota are at first divided, are really 

 orders, those of the Aptera are nothing higher. The 

 Neuroptera, in fact, are as much entitled to be termed 

 a class, in the usual acceptation of the term, as are the 

 Crustacea; for structure, and not numerical amount, is 

 to be looked to in all questions of this sort ; and if the 



