12 DEFINITION OF THE TERM INSECT. 



and unbranching series. In the Supplement to the first 

 volume, he has distributed the Invertebrata in a double 

 subramose series — one consisting of articulate ', and the 

 other of inarticulate animals 3 . 



Upon Lamarck's system, most of the modern ones, 

 with some variation, are founded. There is one, how- 

 ever, by a learned countryman of ours, that is more 

 unique, sui generis, and I may add profound, than any 

 that has yet appeared. I am speaking of that, you will 

 perceive, of which our friend Mr. Win, MacLeay has 

 given a detailed statement in his Horce Entomologies. 

 In this he goes even far beyond what Lamarck has at- 

 tempted in the above sketch, and substantiates his claim 

 to be considered as one of those original thinkers, rari 

 nantes in gurgite vasto, that do not appear every day. 

 The following are the principal bases of his system. 



1. That all natural groups, whether kingdoms or any 

 subdivision of them, return into themselves ; a distribu- 

 tion which he expresses by circles. 



2. That each of these circles is formed precisely of 

 Jive groups, each of which is resolvable into five other 

 smaller groups, and so on till you reach the extreme term 

 of such division. 



3. That proximate circles or larger groups are con- 

 nected by the intervention of lesser groups, which he de- 

 nominates osculant. 



4. That there are relations of analogy between the 

 corresponding points of contiguous circles. 



This system he has represented by tables of circles 

 inscribed with the five primary divisions of each group. 

 His first table exhibits a general view of organized matter 



a Anim. sans Vertebr. i, 457. 



