20 DEFINITION OF THE TERM INSECT. 



Porcellio Latr. to Iidus z , which begins his Ametabola: 

 these he connects with the Mandibidata, by Nirmas, 

 which he thinks approaches some of the corticarious 

 Coleoptera h . This class he appears to leave by the Tri- 

 choptera Kirby, and so enters his Haustellata by the Le- 

 pidopterd c , and leaves it again by the Diptera by means 

 of the Pupiparce Latr., especially Nyctwibia, connecting 

 this class with the Aracknida, which he enters by the 

 Hexapod Acari L. d , and these last he appears to leave 

 by the Araneidce, and to enter the Crustacea by the De- 

 capods e : thus making good his circle of classes, or a 

 series of Annulose animals returning into itself. Mr. 

 MacLeay's whole system upon paper appears very har- 

 monious and consistent, and bears a most seducing aspect 

 of verisimilitude ; but it has not yet been so thoroughly 

 weighed, discussed, and sifted, as to justify our adopting 

 it in toto at present: should it, however, upon an impartial 

 and thorough investigation, come forth from the furnace 

 as gold, and be found to correspond with the actual state 

 of things in nature, my objections, which rest only upon 

 some parts of his arrangement of Annulosa, would soon 

 vanish. Some of those objections I will state here, and 

 some will come in better when I treat of the Systems 

 of Entomology. My first objection is, that his Ameta- 

 bola, Mandibulata, and Haustellata, approach much 

 nearer to each other than they do to the other two classes 

 of his circle, or than even these last to each other ; so 

 that under this view it should primarily consist of three 

 greater groups, resolvable, it may be, into five smaller 

 ones. My next objection is, that he has also considered 



a Her. Entomolog. 348. * Ibid. 354. <= Ibid. 373. 



d Ibid. 381. e Ibid> 389i 



