26 HUMBLE CREATURES. 



LETTER IV. 



cu^tbk's classification op annblides and insects. — 

 glides to a systematic akbangement of animals. — 



AFFINITIES BBT'WI;EN THE WOEM AND FLY. — CLASSIFICATION 

 OF INSECTA, AND THE POSITION OF THE HOUSE-FLY (MUSCA 

 DOMBSTICA) in THE CLASS. — GBNEBAL CONSrDBEATION OF 

 THE fly's form AND STKUCTinBE. 



On referring to Cuvier's classification of animalsj you 

 "will find that, according to the views of that great 

 zoologist, the Annelides should be included amongst 

 the Articulata (articulate races), and that he regards 

 them as the lowest, and the Insecta, or Insects, as the 

 highest class in that section of the Animal Kingdom. 

 Now, although in treating of the Earthworm, which . 

 you of course know to be one of the Annehda, we 

 place that group at the head of the Class Vermes, ia 

 conformity with the arrangement of the most recent 

 and accurate zoologists, yet it is necessary to add, 

 that the line of demarcation between the Annulose 

 worms and some of the family of Articulata is so faint 

 and ill-defined, that many naturalists still continue to 

 follow the classification of Cuvier, and consider the 

 former as the lowest of the Articulate types. 



It would be advisable, for the better comprehension 



