286 INSECTS. 



and so nearly allied, their classification is entirely imper- 

 fect, and like a similar attempt witli any other part of 

 animal life, a failure. Almost every scientific writer has 

 invented a system of entomological distribution for him- 

 self, and their united efforts have produced endless con- 

 fusion ; the arrangement generally followed is that of 

 Latreille, the father of modern entomology. 



Insects are by him divided into two great divisions : 

 those that live by chewing, mandibulata, and those that 

 live by sucking, haustellata, whence the name applied to 

 some of the human family. Of the former the beetles, 

 coleoptera, are prominent, and among the latter the 

 butterflies, lepidoptera. It is to be observed that the 

 bees, although furnished with a sucking apparatus to 

 collect honey, feed with mandibles, and are in the first 

 class. 



Latreille further divides the various groups as follows ; 

 and although English authors have made many changes, 

 the alterations are of such doubtful utility that the origi- 

 nal classification will be retained. 



The first class is that of insects without wings, such as 

 the thysanura, or those having a bushy tail, which are 

 mandibulate. Parasites or lice, and fleas, both of which 

 are suctional, the last having a metamorphose, but the 

 first two not. All others have wings, but the second 

 class includes those that have a hard covering or case, 

 called an elytron, over their wings ; the beetles, which 

 have a horny wing cover and perfect metamorphose ; the 

 dermoptera, which have a horny wing cover but an im- 

 perfect metamorphose ; the orthoptera, or straight-winged 

 insects, their wings folding longitudinally, and having a 



