708 REVIEWS. 
cism of the positions taken by the reviewer as to the classification 
of the Neuroptera. We will first quote the opinions of this able 
and experienced observer, and show wherein and why we differ 
from his conclusions :— 
“ But it is necessary, first of all, just to glance at the position 
generally accorded to the Neuroptera. It has long been seen that 
the order as defined by Linné, is composed of most incongruous ma- 
pseudo-Neuroptera, a veritable refuge for the destitute. 
i added, from time to time, Maillophaga, Thysanura, 
Thysanoptera, and even the Strepsiptera, for no other reason, 80 
far as I can see, than that they would not fit in satisfactorily else- 
where; and the characters of the order being so elastic, it was 
easy to find some peculiarities which gave these outlying families 
admission therein. That the Linnzean families grouped now with 
Orthoptera have more affinity thereto than to the Newroptera as usu- 
ally constituted, is evident ; yet I see no reason whatever why the 
onata should not form an order apart, possessing as they do, 
characters absolutely swi generis. The admission of them into 
Orthoptera renders an already heterogeneous order an absolute 
chaos. For my part, I have been content to consider the Neu- 
roptera as an order, in the Linnzan sense, divisible into. three 
great divisions, pseudo-Neuropteru, Planipenna, Trichoptera, — 
but this only as matter of convenience ; for I am convinced that 
contained therein are constituents of several orders, each of equal 
value with such as Lepidoptera, and Coleoptera, and that the day 
will arrive when, from an increase of knowledge in embryology 
and anatomy, the order Neuroptera, as constituted by Linné, will 
a dismemberment that would have occurred 
do 
certain groups more elevated, others more “ degraded” than the 
rest. Acting upon this, he places the Hymenoptera as structu- 
rally and psychically, if I may use the term, superior to all other 
insects. Then follow Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, 
Orthoptera, and last of all, the Neuroptera, in the Linnean sense 
(but including Thysanura), an order which, according to him, 
‘ mimics every suborder of insects,” being ‘‘ comprehensive OF 
synthetic types, combining the structure of all the other subor- 
ders”. I would here particularly call attention to the relative po- 
sitions occupied by Lepidoptera and Trichoptera, the latter form- 
- ing nearly the last division of Neuroptera. I emphatically enter 
a 
Ks 
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