SYSTEM OF INSECTS. 365 
of locomotion®,—but will think them superior to the head- 
less and almost inanimate oyster or muscle, or the con- 
glomerate Alcyonia, though they have a heart and circu- 
lation? 
Who again, that observes that in proportion as pe- 
date animals approach to the human type, their motions 
are accomplished by fewer organs,—that man walks ore 
sublimi upon two legs; the majority of quadrupeds upon 
four; insects upon six; the Arachnida apparently upon 
eight; most Crustacea wpon ten; and the Myriapods and 
others upon many,—but will thence conclude that insects 
must precede the Arachnida and Crustacea? 
Who, once more, that reflects that if any of the supe- 
rior animals are deprived of a limb it can never be re- 
produced, and that in insects the same circumstance oc- 
curs; while spiders and Crustacea if they lose a leg have 
the power of reproducing it, and the Mollusca if they are 
decapitated can gain a new head,—will consent to their 
being placed after any of these animals® ? 
Lastly, who that recollects that the Mollusca are her- 
maphrodites, like most plants, bearing both male and 
female organs in the same body,—but will allow that in- 
sects, in which the sexes are separate as in the Verte- 
brates, must be more perfect, and of a higher grade‘? 
ii. We now come to the Classes into which the Annulosa 
are divided. This term appears first to have been em- 
ployed by Tournefort, and was adopted by Linné*. As 
the nervous system of animals furnishes the most promi- 
2 Vor. II. p. 310—. » In this respect insects excel many 
reptiles, which can reproduce some of their parts. 
“ See MacLeay Hor. Entomolog. 203, 206—. 298—. 
4 Tinn, Philos, Botan. n. 155, 160. 
