490 



CHAPTER IX. 



ANALYSIS. 



r ERUS holanicus genera natiiralia assumit, nee erronea 

 oh speciei notam aherrantem corificit." After duly weigh- 

 ing this expression of Linnseus, the full force of which 

 certainly long escaped me, I am inclined to think that 

 ■x^'hen we find him declaring genera to be natural, it may 

 be of use to recollect that he confounds two sorts of ge- 

 nera: — the one, the genus as he most philosophically con- 

 ceived it ought to be constructed ; the other, the genus as 

 he was only able artificially to construct it. The first of 

 these, which perhaps he constantly aimed at, was truly a 

 natural group, not liable to be injured by any slight aber- 

 ration from the leading characteristics by which he ima- 

 gined it to be distinguished in nature. Before, however, 

 he could carry this idea into execution, he was obliged, as 

 he unfortunately thought, to choose some principle or prin- 

 ciples of division, by the application of which his genera 

 might be formed ; and herein lay his error. He chose in 

 Entomology to make the antennas the keystone of division, 

 as he might have made any other organ or property of in- 

 sects. Fabricius, by a parody on his words, said, on the 

 other hand, " Geiiera tot sunt quot similiter constructa in- 

 strumenta ciharia proferunt diverse species naturales" a 

 rule than which scarcely any more false could have been 



