ALS SYSTEM OF INSECTS. 
Annelida as an osculant Class*, which Mr. MacLeay re- 
gards‘as the passage to the Chilopoda”: his Mandibulata 
he considers as passing into the Anoplura by means of 
some osculant Order as yet unknown‘. But I must con- 
fess I can see no good ground for this last transition :— 
the Anoplura appear much more nearly related to Psocus, 
especially by the apterous species Psocus pulsatorius, 
than to any Colcopterous insect. But having stated these 
opinions, I shall leave you to draw your own conclusions, 
as the question is still perplexed with many difficulties. I 
am ready to admit that some Vertebrates approach near 
to the Annelida; but that it is through them alone that 
they are connected with insects, is not at present clear. 
With regard to reptiles, they seem to be connected 
with insects by several characters. In the Chelonzans, 
the skeleton merges in the external carapace or 
shell; the Ophidians change their skin like larve ; 
the Batrachians undergo metamorphoses ; some of the 
Saurians also have their changes; and the Draco volans 
has wings somewhat analogous to those of insects®. 
Were I to be asked what Order of insects could con- 
nect with reptiles, I should point to the Orthoptera, es- 
pecially Gryllus L., which by their noise and saltato- 
rious powers not a little resemble frogs; and the larve 
of some strikingly imitate their form’: and of others 
even that of a lizard’. But these resemblances, after all, 
may only indicate analogies. 
1 N. Dict. d Hist. Nat. xxvii. 235. Hor. Entomolog. 203. 
h Ibid. 281—. * Ibid. 354, 390, 397. 
4 This insect, except in its antenna, so nearly resembles a Nir- 
mus, that it might be mistaken for one. See Coquebert Jiustr. 
Toon. i. t. ii. f. 14. Vows p.7592: 
 Fuess!. Archiv. t. ii. f.5. © Stoll Saut. de Pass. t. xx.b. f.79. 
