230 OPINIONS ON MR. NEWMAN's SPHINX VESPIFORMIS. 



tribes of orders at Stylops (783), and Papilio (784), a con- 

 nexion resulting from accident, and certainly never for a 

 moment entertained by the author as natural. And I would 

 willingly inquire of Mr. Stephens himself, whether the posi- 

 tion in which I have placed his orders is not more in accord- 

 ance with his own observations of affinities, than the one 

 which he has himself proposed. 



It is undeniably a sound argument in favour of the truth of 

 the septenary system, that it so very well agrees with the 

 arrangement of a Catalogue, composed by an author pre- 

 eminently qualified for the task, and who had no peculiar 

 views of system which could induce him to alter the position 

 of any group, having once decided on that position by a close 

 investigation of characters. 



In the next place, it is just to infer that, if one group 

 contains insects closely allied to insects in each of three other 

 groups, that group cannot be placed naturally without touching 

 all the other three ; and not binding myself to the instances 

 proposed by the author of " Sphinx," which I consider are far 

 from being the best he could have selected, I shall select 

 others ; for instance, the Neuropterous insects, Perla, Psocus, 

 and Tinodes, with Acheta (the common cricket). Aphis, and any 

 of the tribe Tinea ; and let not any one who is disposed to make 

 the inquiry shrink from a close scrutiny, — consulting and 

 comparing the mouth, antennae, thorax, wings, legs, abdomen, 

 and even the appendices of the abdomen; and if, after the 

 examination, he does not find an affinity between Perla and 

 Acheta, between Psocus and Aphis, and between Tinodes and 

 Tinea, and consequently draw from this the conclusion that 

 Neuroptera is related, and very closely, to Orthoptera, 

 Hemiptera, and Lepidoptera, then certainly there is nothing 

 in any affinities which are now allowed. For my own part, 

 having, during the present month, turned my attention almost 

 exclusively to this interesting subject, I have found exotic 

 genera in Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Coleoptera, nearly as 

 closely allied to Neuroptera as the instances above given for 

 the other classes ; but these are at present little known, and 

 therefore may induce doubt and discussion ; and I rest my 

 argument solely on the affinities which I have already pointed 

 out ; and maintain that, to arrange the four classes in question 

 naturally, they must touch each other where those genera 



