GENERIC NAMES. 67 



by writing the names of the last-mentioned insect, for ex- 

 ample, thus, Cychrus Fabr., rostratus Linn.; or, more cor- 

 rectly, thus — Cychrus rostratus Fabr. {Tenebrio, p. Linn.) — 

 the letter p standing for the word part. 



Generic names are, for the most part, derived from the 

 Greek, and are generally indicative of some peculiarity of 

 the genus. Thus the genus of bees, Macrocera, derives its 

 name from two Greek words, macros long, and keras a horn ; 

 the antennffi being very long in the males. In like manner we 

 have Platycerus, broad-horned, &c. &c. Many of the Lin- 

 nfcan generic names are, however, destitute of any direct appli- 

 cation to the insects which such genera contain, this author 

 having employed the old natural history names, which he 

 met with in the early authors, in the most senseless manner. 

 Indeed, this could not be avoided in many instances, from 

 the vague manner in which the names had been employed ; 

 and hence Linnaeus, anxious to enlist them all again into the 

 service of natural history, hesitated not to employ them for 

 objects which probably had not the least connexion with 

 those to which they had been applied by the ancients. The 

 universal adoption of the Linnaean nomenclature throughout 

 the zoological world has rendered these blemishes too trilling 

 to cause any confusion to originate in consequence of their 

 ado])tion. For the like reason, and in order to prevent the 

 equally great confusion which would arise by employing 

 several names for the same animal, naturalists have adopted 

 the plan of retaining that first proposed, unless it should 

 happen to be evidently incorrect, the subsequently proposed 

 names sinking into synonyms. 



In concisely tracing, in the next place, the rise of Ento- 

 mological science, including a sketch of its present state, 

 the names of various celebrated men who have given, from 

 time to time, an impulse to the study of insects, or who 

 have rendered it the most signal services, mark the eras of 



