UOUM ENTOMOLOGICLE. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



IT has long since been stated that those organs, whether 

 in the Animal or Vegetable Kingdom, which tend to the re- 

 production of the species a , in reality compose the essence of 

 its being ; or, in other words, that the chief object of the ex- 

 istence of the individual is to bring these to maturity. The 

 truth of this assertion has been supported by the remark, 

 that the vital principle begins to decay throughout organized 

 matter, as soon as the abovementioned organs cease to 

 be able to perform their functions. It has also been urged, 

 that as Fructification forms the great basis of arrange- 

 ment in Botany, so considerations founded on the repro- 

 duction of the species ought to afford the most natural 

 method of classifying the Animal Kingdom. But without 

 discussing the accuracy of this mode of argument, it were 

 useless to enter into the various objections — the various 

 difficulties that such a system would be exposed to ; ob- 

 jections and difficulties that render it absolutely necessary 

 to inquire after some other principles of arrangement. Now, 

 if we lay aside the reproduction of the species, undoubt- 

 edly the chief remaining function of life is its preservation 

 in the individual b ; for indeed it has been questioned by 



a Monog.ApumAnglix, vol. i. page 39. 



* " Dass den Mundtheilen unter den ubrigen Theilen des Insekts eine 

 vorziigliche Aufmerksamkeit gebiihrt, bedarf wohl keines ausfiihrlichen 



B 



