82 The American Naturalist. 
ENTOMOLOGY. 
Evolution and Taxonomy.—Under this general title Professor 
J. H. Comstock has published an extremely important and suggestive 
easay? Starting with the evident proposition that the systematists of 4 
to-day are not making as much use of the theory of descent in taxono” 
mic work as they might, the author suggests that “the logical way t0 ~ 
go to work to determine the affinities of the members of a group of A 
organisms is first to endeavor to ascertain the structure of the primi 
tive members of this group ; and then endeavor to learn in what ways 
these primitive forms have been modified by natural selection, keepmg 
in mind that in each generation those forms have survived whose l 
parts were best fitted to perform their functions.” Some of the dife 
culties to be encountered in the carrying out of this suggestion are 
next considered. “As the structure of a highly organized animal or ; 
plant is too complicated to be understood in detail at once, it is SUG 
gested that the student begin with the study of a single organ possessed 
by the members of the group to be classified.” He is to observe the 
forms and functions of this organ; and to determine its primitive form 
way a provisional classification can be made. 
; The second part of Professor Comstock’s essay considers the evolu 7 
tion of the wings of insects. The method above suggested is here — 
applied to the wings of the Lepidoptera; and is followed by @ con- 
tribution to the classification of the Lepidoptera which forms the third : 
part of the essay. This classification is a provisional one, but the 
-and the various ways in which the primitive form has been modified. ’ 
‘Then another organ is to be selected and results compared. In this 
author confidently expects “that the principal conclusions stated heré z 
will be confirmed by a study of other parts of the body; for in Ne 
ture’s court the testimony of different witnesses, if rightly unders wo 
will agree,” 
The proposed classification is indicated in the following table: 
\Edited by Clarence M. Weed, New Hampshire College, Durham, N. H 
2Evolution and Taxono 
selection in the classification of animals and plants. Illustrated by a study of 
An essay on the application of the theory of natural , 
ion of the wings of insects and by a contribution to the classification of the 
Lepidoptera.—Reprinted from the Wilder Quarter-Century Book—Comstock Pub- 
lishing Co. Ithaca, New York. 
