MosLEY : On Classification of British Insects. 25 



insect in any other order. It is the old Linnean idea of placing the 

 type at the head. To effect an alteration of this kind needs no 

 very great alteration in the arrangement of the various groups ; the 

 groups themselves need only be differently placed in relation one to 

 the other, for some of them, like the Geometrina and Tortricina, are 

 very natural, while others, like the Nueturni, are very unnatural, and 

 require re-arrangement. In a short paper like this, where I can 

 give only the merest outline of the system, it is impossible to go into 

 minute detail; but whether the arrangement of the Lepidoptera be 

 altered or not, the natural place of that order seems to be between the 

 Trichoptera and the Hymen optera. 



Ord. 6, Hymen optera. — The Hymenoptera are divided into two 

 sub-orders, the Terebrantia and the Aculeata. The first family 

 of the Terebrantia is the Tentliredinidce^ or saw-flies, and their larvae 

 at once, suggest a very close relationship with the last order, the 

 Lepidoptera. This class of insects is too well known among 

 entomologists to need any description ; the gooseberry grub is a very 

 common example. 



The second family of Terebrantia is the Sircid(£, consisting of but 

 few species in Britain,^ similar to that large and attractive insect 

 Sir ex gigas. 



The third family is the CynipidcB, or gall-flies, of which we have 

 many species in Britain, all of them small, and producing woody 

 excrescences upon the leaves, bark, or roots of plants. 



The next family consists of but a few species, small insects, and 

 parasites upon cockroaches. They are remarkable for having a very 

 slender abdomen springing from the back. The family is called 

 EvaniidcG. 



The family IchneumonidcB is of large extent, though the insects 

 comprising it, are generally comparatively small. Their general form 

 is known to members of this Society either friendly or otherwise, 

 perhaps too often the latter. 



The Chrysididce, or ruby-tailed flies, come nearest to the true bees 

 and wasps, in the nests of some of which they are parasitic. The 

 commonest species, Chrysis ignitis, may be found sunning itself upon 

 walls in very hot weather, or dug from the nests of the sand wasps. 



The second sub-order, Aculeata, comprises the Fossores^ sand and 

 ground wasps, the ants, the true wasps, and the bees. 



Ord. 7, DiPTERA.~The representatives of the bees among the 

 Diptera will be found in the genus Bombylius^ or humble-bee flies, 



