HISTORY OF ENTOMOLOGY. 431 
life in attending to the proceedings of insects*. But after 
this long study, his principal use to the science was the 
improvement he effected in the drawing and engraving of 
them,—for his figures, though sometimes incorrect and 
sometimes fabulous, were far superior to those of his 
predecessors. 
3. The Era of Swammerdam and Ray, or of the Me- 
tamorphotic System. ‘The great men whose names are 
here united, as they were cotemporary, so they agreed 
in founding their respective systems of insects on the 
same basis. ‘To the former, however, is due the merit 
of being the first who assumed the metamorphoses of these 
animals as the basis of a natural arrangement of them ; 
upon which the latter, in conjunction with his lamented 
friend Willughby, erected that superstructure which 
opened the door for the present improved state of the 
science. Swammerdam’s system may be thus expressed 
in modern language: 
[ Class i. Metamorphosis complete ?= Aptera L.° 
Orthoptera, Hemiptera. 
Libellulina, Ephemerina4, 
ii. — semicomplete ; 
$ Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, 
& ¢ incomplete part of Neuroptera and 
N ill, ———— Diptera®, 
obtected Lepidoptera‘. 
; Ichneumones minuti L.® 
iv. ———— rctat ; 
Coanctabe Muscide, &c." 
Se 
It was a great point gained in the science to introduce 
@ Lister’s Goedart, Pref. ii. 
> See Vor. I. p. 65—, where these terms are explained. 
¢ Swamm. Bibl. Nat. 1. 38—. @ Thid, 92—. 
® Thid. 119—. f Tbid. ii. 1—. & Thd. 31—. 
 [bid. 30. 
