450 ON THE TRIBES 



lected as at present, it were better with Aldrovandus and 

 Mouffet to consider them a separate tribe of animals, or 

 even to return to the classification of Aristotle, and place 

 them with worms. Little matters it to say that they are 

 not distinct animals from others duly classified, and there- 

 fore deserve not a separate description. Such an argu- 

 ment might be admirable, if the natural system were in 

 question, as this would be sure to take some notice of 

 them ; but is wholly inapplicable to an artificial system, 

 which is defective whenever we are not enabled by its 

 means to discover the scientific name for any object that 

 may fall in our way. 



The natural system, when discovered, will doubtless 

 combine a view of every property and peculiarity of spe- 

 cies, with a certain perception of the manner in which these 

 characteristics vary. Now in Entomology, every approach 

 to this beau ideal must evidently be inconvenient — nay, un- 

 intelligible to persons commencing the study, because it 

 pre-supposes a knowledge of animals, which they have on 

 the contrary to acquire. And this is the objection that 

 Reaumur made to the system of Swammerdam, in a passage 

 of his Mtmoires sur les Imectes, which, by the way, not- 

 withstanding the acknowledged faults of Swammerdam's 

 system, induces me to suspect that he himself was insensible 

 to the full value and drift of those facts which he has so 

 ingeniously compiled. To deem Entomology only as a 

 science, by the help of which insects may be named with 

 the least possible trouble, was a bitter satire on his own 

 invaluable labours, as they respected true philosophy. 



The following passage of Degeer will show us how dif- 

 ferent a view of the matter was taken by a better naturalist^ 

 and scarcely less celebrated physiologist. 



