The imperfect knowledge that Linnaeus unfortunately had of 

 the trophi of insects not only often led him into error, but 

 prevented him probably from bequeathing to the world a more 

 natural system than has hitherto been discovered. Fabricius 

 no doubt finding that it was impossible to form a natural sy- 

 stem by mere analogy, began to examine the Instrumenta 

 Cibaria; and this led Latreille to the accurate and elaborate 

 investigations which have been the admiration of men of 

 science ; and to his successful labours we are indebted for the 

 comparative facility with which the affinities of the minutest 

 insects are determined. The first work in which that learned 

 naturalist showed his attachment to the Fabrician system, was 

 his " Precis des Caracteres Generiques des Insectes," pub- 

 lished in 1796, in which insects were first divided into families, 

 and their characters derived from the mouth. In this work 

 the genus Dascillus was established ; and about two years 

 after, Paykul characterized the same insect under the name of 

 Atopa. The remarkable structure of the maxillae and labium 

 are alone sufficient to separate it from all other insects, and 

 could not fail to attract the notice of these acute observers of 

 Nature. 



The two species described of this genus are probably merely 

 varieties or the sexes of 



D. Cervinus Linn, — The 'beetle represented upon the plant 

 seems to be the Linnaean insect, and the magnified figure shows 

 the tawny variety, v/hich may be the female. The scent of se- 

 veral of these which I took off Alders and Brambles was very 

 offensive and powerful, sinjilar to that of the house-bug; whereas 

 the dark ones either had no scent, or smelt merely of the plant 

 on which they were found. 



D. Cervinus and its varieties appear in May and June, and 

 are very abundant in the north of England and in Scotland : 

 on the 25th of last June there were multitudes upon various 

 plants, and on the May-flowers, on the mountains near Am- 

 bleside. 



Mr. A. Mathews, A.L.S. has informed me, that whilst he 

 was collecting Orchideae in Kent on the 29th of May, 1825, 

 he found three specimens of our beetle at the roots of Orchis 

 ustulata, about four inches beneath the surface of the ground, 

 which induced him to suspect that the larvae might feed upon 

 the roots of that plant. The Dwarf Orchis was in flower upon 

 the spot where I met with two or three specimens, ascending 

 Arthur's Seat. 



