368 SYSTEM OF INSECTS. 
merely for the sake of illustration, and that you might 
know what description of insects were intended when 
these Orders were mentioned in my letters, without in- 
tending to affirm that I had arranged them in a natural 
series, or that all of them were perfectly natural. I shall 
now consider them separately, and conclude with giving 
my sentiments as to which should be placed first. 
* OrDERS in which the ordinary Trophi all occur, or the 
Mouth is perfect?. 
1. Corzorrrra? (Lleutherata F.). Aristotle may be 
called the founder of this Order, since he both named 
and defined it®. Both his name and definition were 
adopted by Linné; and the former (with the exception 
of Fabricius and his scheol) by all.succeeding Entomo- 
logists. To his definition Wings in a sheath*, other 
characters have been added; as the folding of the wings, 
and the straight suture by which the elytra are united *. 
Aristotle’s character, though-to be found in the great 
majority of the Order, is not universal, since there are 
some beetles that have neither wings nor sheath, as the 
female glow-worm ; and many that though they have the 
sheath have no wings, as Meloe, many Carabi, &c. To 
the transverse folding of the wings there are also excep- 
tions; as in Buprestis, Molorchus, &c. ‘The straight su- 
ture by which one elytrum exactly coincides with the 
other without lapping over, fails in Meloe: so that no one 
of these characters can be called universal in the Order; 
@ Vor. III. p. 418. ® Derived from xoAcos, a sheath, and 
aTegoy, a wing. © Hist. Animal. \.iv.c. 7-1. v. ¢. 20. 
1 “Ocee ro wrEeeoy exes ey uorEw. © Latr. Gen. Crust. et 
Ins.i. 169. Oliv. Ins. i. Introd. y. 
