416 SYSTEM OF INSECTS. 
easy to be decided,—I mean, which Order of insects is 
to have the precedency, and which is the connecting link 
that unites them to Vertebrate animals. 
Linné (and Mr. MacLeay seems in this to coincide 
with him) considered the Coleoptera as at the head of the 
Class of insects; De Geer thought the Lepzdoptera en- 
titled to that honour; Latreille and Cuvier begin with 
the Aptera: Marcel de Serres favours the Orthoptera? ; 
and others, on account of their admirable economy, have 
made the Hymenoptera the princes of the insect world?. 
If the claim to priority was to be decided by the exqui- 
siteness of instincts and the benefits conferred upon the 
human race, doubtless it would be in favour of the last- 
mentioned insects. If the power to do mischief carried 
it, and to lay waste the earth, the Orthoptera would be 
entitled as much as any to the bad pre-eminence. If 
beauty, and grace, and gaiety, and splendour of colours 
were the great requisite, and the law enjoined, Detur 
pulchriori,—the Lepidoptera would doubtless win the 
throne. But if perfection and solidity of structure, as 
they ought, are to regulate this point; we must, I think, 
with the illustrious Swede, assign the palm to the Co- 
leoptera. If we consider these in all their parts, the 
organs for flight only excepted, they seem more perfectly 
formed and finished than the insects of any other order. 
But which of the Coleopterous tribes are entitled to the 
precedency? Linné placed the Lamellicorn beetles at 
the head of the order, beginning with the Dynastide, 
probably led by some characters which seem to connect 
these with the Branchiostegous fishes. In this he was 
followed by Fabricius. But Latreille and most modern 
4 Mem. du Mus. 1819. 136. > Rifferschw. de Ins. Genital. 9. 
