160 ON SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY. 
(214.) MM. Kirby and Spence, speaking of this part of 
the Linnean arrangement, observe : —‘‘ His system, be- 
ing founded upon the absence or presence and character of 
the organs of flight, is in some degree a republication of 
the Aristotelian. In considering this table of orders, it 
must strike every one acquainted with the subject, 
that, although the assumption of a single set of organs, 
whereon to build a system, can scarcely be expected 
to lead to one perfectly natural, yet that the majority of 
groups here given as orders merit that character. The 
second, indeed, and the /ast require further subdivision, 
and concerning the fourth no satisfactory conclusion 
has yet been drawn. With regard to the series of his 
orders, it is mostly artificial Linné has the advan- 
tage of all his predecessors in giving clearer definitions 
to his orders, and in their nomenclature, in which he 
has followed the path first trodden by Aristotle.” * 
(215.) The genera of insects, characterised by Lin- 
nus, deserve to be remembered. As the student will 
find an acquaintance with them of great advantage in 
the early periods of his study, we shall here enumerate 
their characters, since by this plan he will be rendered 
familiar with the types of what are now, for the most 
part, examples of families or very large divisions. 
I. Coxrrorrera. 
* Antenne clavate, thickest at the tip. 
Scarabeus. Beetle. Club lamellate, anterior thighs toothed. 
Lucanus. Stagbeetle. Club compressed, the sides more widely 
cleft. 
Dermestes. Club perfoliate ; head inflexed under the thorax. 
Hister. Club solid; head retractile within the thorax. 
Byrrhus. Club solid, ovate. 
Gyrinus. Antenne rigid; eyes four. 
Attelabus. Head pedunculated, or attenuated at the base. 
Curculio. Antenne placed on a horny rostrum or beak. 
Silpha. Thorax and elytra marginated. 
Coccinella. Club of antennz obtuse; palpi with a truncated 
club. 
* Int. to Ent. vol. iv. p. 438. 
